Five-Acre Sporting Facility Planned For Oakdale Plaza Site

The burned remains of Oakdale Plaza, the site of a September fire that destroyed nearly all the businesses there, still stand on Chapel Hill Road.

When John Diamantini, the owner of the site, looks at the structure, now blanketed underneath the snow, he sees the future:  an indoor sports facility for Montville — a  new structure on five acres, making it three times the size of the old space.

This week, he stood in front of the old business-front for Diamantini construction, and talked about his plans for a “family-oriented facility.”  The way he has it planned, the main parts of the building would include a gym, space for baseball, basketball and indoor soccer. There would also be room for people who want to walk indoors. People wanting to use the facilities would pay a membership fee and pay more for additional services.

Diamantini plans to set aside space for a business office and is looking for candidates to run a hair salon and a restaurant. Oakdale Automotive, which escaped the blaze, would stay on site, with some redesign so it would match the new construction.

According to Diamantini, kids in Montville will be able to use the sports facilities for after-school programs, vacations and snow days.

“There’s a local program that has over 1,000 kids and they want to be involved,” he said, referring to sports teams in Montville.

“I want the programs at the center to be compatible with school programs that already exist,” Diamantini added.

His wife Kim, who works as a nurse part-time at Lawrence and Memorial Hospital, is eager to take the responsibility of overseeing many of these activities.

“All kids want to do is have fun,” she said.

The couple has two children, Abby and TJ, at Oakdale Elementary School. The parents look to them for suggestions, and envision them taking part in the business as they grow older.

As owner of his own construction firm, Diamantini is well positioned to begin building a structure and plans on hiring local contractors for all parts of the job.

Before any building can begin however, he will have to foot the cost of a complete teardown, which will incur the additional cost of removing asbestos from the 45-year old building. The town will also have to issue a demolition permit before this can go forward.

Next, Diamantini will have run his plans by the town’s Building Department. His designs have already gone before the Planning and Zoning Commission, which has approved them. Building will also require outside money.

“We have approval, we’re in the final stage of the planning process; the next step is to find investors,” he said.

Post-fire, Diamantini believes that the new business will have the potential to be more successful than the previous businesses, which were destroyed.

“The plaza and the businesses that were existing had always been struggling,” he said.

According to him, fitness is an area that will remain in demand, even in the midst of a recession.

“It’s like they say, ‘If you build it they will come,’” he said. “That’s exactly what will happen here.”