Covington gets the region’s first indoor sports arena

Covington will soon be home to what may be the Northshore’s first indoor sports arena. Construction has begun on Playmakers Indoor Sports, a 29,000-square-foot two-story facility for soccer, football, lacross and other sports. The arena is on target for completion in the spring, Ryan Enk, managing partner on the project, told New Orleans City Business. The venue is being built at Northpointe Business Park in Covington, at the intersection of state highways 1077 and 1085. A permit report lists the value of the project as $1.5 million, but Enk said the actual cost will likely run closer to $2 million. Mandeville-based Voelkel McWilliams is the general contractor and developer for the project. Enk, who considers himself a “passionate soccer player,” told City Business he got the idea for the venue a couple years ago while working as a copier salesman. “It was just miserable enough for me to say, ‘I want to do something that I love,'” he says. On his wife’s suggestion, he decided to go into the indoor sports business. Enk also owns KangArena, a Covington venue for bounce and sports parties, and a SoccerTots franchise. Noting the number of families living on the Northshore, St. Tammany Economic Development Foundation Executive Director Brenda Reine-Bertus says Playmakers is “a perfect fit for St. Tammany Parish” that will add to the area’s quality of life.