POCATELLO — Organizers plan to build a nearly 35,000-square-foot inline hockey and multi-sport facility near the Pocatello Regional Airport that they hope will become a hub for youth sports in Southeast Idaho.

The nonprofit behind the project, Idaho Inline Hockey Association, has secured a 3.5-acre parcel on Fortress Street near the airport, according to the organization’s President Ryan Bennett.

Current designs have organizers envisioning a multi-use indoor sports complex, with inline hockey and soccer as the primary focus. The space will also have capacity for lacrosse, basketball, roller derby, concerts and other events.

Bennett and others on the nonprofit board have been heavily involved in Southeast Idaho hockey and were integral to the now-closed H&R sports facility formerly housed at the Titan Center on Pole Line Road.

Rather than let the decades-old facility fold, longtime organizer Marty Rosa-Habenicht, who has been involved since the sport’s local inception, approached Bennett about starting fresh with a new structure and a new home.

“We decided to go with a nonprofit organization and create a board,” Bennett said. “All of the board members have been involved in the hockey community for years upon years as well.”

The group is working with a general contractor and Booth Architecture for 3D renderings and design work. The rink will be built to accommodate inline hockey specifications but with flexibility as the guiding principle.

The biggest hurdle for the new sports complex is funding, said Bennett, adding that the board is finalizing business plans so it can approach larger companies for donations and potential naming rights. Bennett said several businesses have already agreed to support the project, but the nonprofit board is not yet ready to publicly identify them.

While significant work remains before the new sports complex is completed, Bennett said he hopes to finish construction within the next few years.

Bennett believes the complex will aid both airport-area development and the broader Pocatello-Chubbuck community by adding a unique sports and recreation venue.

The facility would also restore a regional home for H&R Inline.

“Our biggest goal is to garner as much excitement as we can, to get it out to the public and things like that,” Bennett said. “We’re getting it out there that it’s going to be a multi-use facility. We feel like hockey is growing here right now with the Idaho Falls Spud Kings and the Utah Mammoth in the NHL that just moved down to Salt Lake recently. I think that hockey is getting bigger and a lot more people are getting excited about that. So that excites us as well.”

Anyone interested in supporting Idaho Inline Hockey Association Inc. can donate directly to its Venmo page at venmo.com/u/IIHA1.