By Daniel Salazar – Staff Writer, Austin Business Journal

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Work on a large sports complex on Austin’s northern flank is now underway.

Construction began May 22 on iSports Cedar Park, a training and performance center that will feature two indoor hockey rinks as well as two turf fields. Austin Business Journal first reported last June about plans for the iSports project near the U.S. Highway 183A toll road and Scottsdale Drive.

The 206,000-square-foot sports hub is expected to bring together family entertainment, sports medicine, shopping and dining under one roof in the Williamson County suburb.

Also on May 22, D1 Training Group of Central Texas, which is part of a Nashville-based company that operates 30 training locations across the country, was named as a new tenant for the complex.

Ken Fidje and Kevin Engelbrecht own D1 Training Group of Central Texas, in addition to D1 locations in Waco and College Station. For more on Fidje’s business background, read this 2015 story from when he joined CBRE Group Inc. in Austin.

Chaparral Ice is another one of the development’s key tenants and plans to operate two National Hockey League-sized ice rinks and two turf fields, one outdoor and one indoor. The iSports team is still looking for tenants to run things such as a gym, a sand volleyball court and sports rehabilitation services.

The development received its final zoning OK last August and has received subsequent site development approvals and building permits.

Construction is expected to take just over a year, with an opening as early as next summer, according to the announcement.

Perardi Development leads the developer team, which also features Johnson Trube & Associates LLC‘s John Trube and Thrive FP‘s JP Newman and Adrian Lufschanowski as investors.

Harvey-Cleary Builders is the general contractor, Big Red Dog is the project engineer, Washington Federal Bank is the lender and JMA is the architect.

“We’ve assembled a first-class team and can’t wait to see this through to fruition,” Perardi Development’s founding principal Eric Perardi said in a statement.

The cost of the project hasn’t been released. The project’s investment and development partnership, iSports Cedar Park Ltd., reported selling $12.4 million in equity to 30 investors in a May securities filing.