COLUMBUS, Neb. -- The city of Columbus just recently opened a new fieldhouse for their Columbus Community Hospital and Wellness Center. The facility is located on the north side of the building near 31st and 41st Ave. 

The 101,500-square-foot field has activities for everyone to enjoy including a turf field, batting cages, a golf simulator and many more unique features. 

“I think it's worth your time just to come and see it,” Rob Marshall said, Director of the Columbus fieldhouse. “It’s what we refer to as an athletic Disneyland. When they walk through those doors, a couple of things they should be able to do regardless of where they're at in their athletic journey or their health journey or even just their lifestyle journey; there's something in here for everybody.” 

“After all this time, it's amazing just to see people in it and using it, it really is meant for everyone in our community,” Michael Hansen said, President and CEO of Columbus Community Hospital. “We have people of all ages enjoying all the different kinds of activities that we have here. It's just heartwarming to see them actually start to use it.” 

Construction for the project began back in 2019. Funding was completely provided by the hospital and was even given additional funding from the State once COVID hit. It summed up to be about $27.6 million. 

“As a hospital, our mission is to improve the health and wellness of our community,” Hansen said. “So back in 2012, we did a community health needs assessment. So as a board, we sat down and talked about, you know, what can we do in terms of brick and mortar to really impact the overall wellness of our community. That resulted in 2015, building the Wellness Center, and then of course, this year, opening our fieldhouse, which is our second phase.” 

The fieldhouse will host sports teams of all ages around the community and around the state of Nebraska. The year-round availability will make it vital to any and all athletes.

“Nebraska winters are brutal,” Hansen said. “And so having this kind of facility for people to continue to be physically active during the wintertime is just tremendous.”

The fieldhouse also adds appeal to the city of Columbus while providing opportunities to anyone in the community. 

“When people are looking at making Columbus their permanent home, all of a sudden now there's kind of a bright shining star where they can come see and realize that the community is growing, and that we're investing in that community and it's a destination place to come and work,” Marshall said. 

According to Marshall, the astoundingly large fieldhouse will provide even larger opportunities to the citizens of central Nebraska. 

“I know when you drive around it, it looks big but it's bigger when you get inside there,” Marshall said. “It's big and it's endless so are the opportunities that this will provide for the community.”

The fieldhouse is now open and available to the public.