Warner Robins’ sports complex, next to Huntington Middle School, is still on schedule to be completed by the end of this year, according to Joe Musselwhite, public works director for the city.

Musselwhite said Tuesday work on the grounds is about 80 percent complete with the final grading left to be done.

The complex, a project that’s been discussed since the mid-1990s, is to contain four softball fields, a football field, a joint-use building, scoreboards, parking, lighting and fences, all situated on 44 acres adjacent to Huntington School east of Wellborn Road.

The complex has had a complex history, and it’s been more than seven years since the proposal started to gain ground.

The City Council purchased the site in February 2003 and sold part of the parcel the following month to the Houston County Board of Education so it could build Huntington Middle School, which opened in August 2005.

Dean Cowart and Terry Horton were council members active in the process, earning thanks from then-Mayor Donald Walker, according to the meeting minutes of the time.

School board member Fred Wilson said Monday he recalled the city gave assurances to the board of education that the property adjoining the Huntington site would be used for recreational purposes. Cowart, in an interview last week, agreed.

“It was understood when we bought the property that the front half would be for the school,” Cowart said. “We assured them (BOE) the sports complex in the other half would be tied in to their complex, but they turned the fields around.”

Funding for the design of the complex and its construction was approved in 2004 and then again in 2007.

Work on clearing the land started in the summer of 2006, said Musselwhite, with trees and brush removed and infrastructure put in place.

He envisions the project, when completed, to be a state-of-the-art facility that will attract groups. In the past he has likened it to the South Commons softball facility in Columbus, which has a history of attracting state, national and international competition including softball practices for the 1996 Olympic Games.

He said the concession stand building and scorers booth, along with the stands, are next up. Funding is in place to complete the work, as the council in December approved transferring $875,000 from the general fund to cover the balance of the nearly $1.7 million project.

But in the past month city council member John Williams has publicly said there is a buyer interested in the site to put in an office complex geared toward defense contractors at nearby Robins Air Force Base.

Williams, in an April 21 radio show, said the site of the complex is “prime industrial property,” better suited for commercial use.

“We can put the ballpark in a neighborhood,” he said. “Why tie it up?”

Cowart said he’s also heard about someone wanting to buy the property for use as an office complex. But he sees the complex as being a moneymaker for the city, with schools and other groups holding softball tournaments here.

“We’ve been working with the Georgia High School Association to get AAAA or AAAAA girls softball tournaments here,” he said. “These things could translate into a $10 million economic impact for our area. Not the city, but the area; our share would be 7 percent to 8 percent. That’s quite a bit of money.”