POCATELLO — A new facility at the Mountain View Event Center will allow area residents to enjoy a host of field sports within the comfort of an enclosed environment.

The new 28,000-square-foot facility, dubbed the ICCU Field House, held its ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday evening and will open for rentals and reservations Feb. 23.

ICCU CEO Brenda Worrell, Pocatello-Chubbuck Auditorium District board member and Grace Lutheran School director Robert Rashke and MEC Executive Director Shelton Robinson welcomed community members and spoke about the collaborative efforts that made the expansion a reality.

“It’s certainly an exciting day, not only for the auditorium district and ICCU, but for our entire community,” Robinson said. “When we first opened the MEC in 2017, we realized pretty quickly how impactful these types of facilities can be. Within just a few short years, we were full pretty much every weekend with tournaments and events and constant use by our community during the week. As a staff, we started to think about and dream of ways that we could continue to expand and continue to make an impact in our community.”

During those first few years, Robinson said the MEC, located at 1567 Way to Grace Ave. in Pocatello, was constantly receiving calls to include sports like soccer, baseball and softball. Robinson capitalized on the community’s desire for field sports in forming the partnership with ICCU, which invested $4 million of the project’s $6 million total cost.

“They’ve been amazing partners,” Robinson said. “We certainly appreciate their trust and belief in us to be able to get this facility built and operational for years to come.”

Robinson also thanked the auditorium district board and staff for their key roles in making the project possible, along with the partnership of nearby Grace Lutheran School, which worked in tandem with Meyers Anderson Architects and Headwaters Construction to design and build the expansion..

The ICCU Field House will operate similarly to the existing MEC facilities, renting space to local community, club and high school teams while maintaining flexibility on weekends for other events.

The facility features 26,000 square feet of turf space, three fields for five-on-five soccer, one seven-on-seven soccer field, a full infield for baseball and softball training with a netted design, two batting cages, a lobby and restrooms.

“There’s such a big need for this in the community,” Robinson said. “I remember talking to Christian Colonel at Highland baseball, and they actually played their first few baseball games without even having a practice. We just saw the trend of the people that needed space at the MEC. It was something that we felt like we could do really well and could really fill that need and role in the community.”

In addition to standard five-on-five soccer tournaments, Robinson said there is potential for cornhole tournaments and noted that a local group has inquired about renting the space for dog shows.

“It really will expand and open a whole new market to us on the event side, and then obviously it’s a really great space for our community to use for sports during the week as well,” Robinson said.

Due to high interest in renting space at the new field house and with spring sports on the horizon, Robinson said general public availability may be limited but hinted at a community open house sometime in March.

Anyone interested in reserving space at the Mountain View Event Center can visit meceventcenter.com.

“The design and how it all tied the whole campus together is really pretty special,” Robinson said. “We are so excited to get this open and filled up right alongside the MEC.”