Article featured on LancasterOnline.

Spooky Nook Sports already is established as a place for athletic training and competition.

Now Nook Sports is trying to strengthen its appeal as a place for other kinds of events.

The Manheim-area facility has started a $710,000 project to upgrade its event-hosting capabilities, so it can serve customers more efficiently.

Some five to 10 new jobs are expected to result from the project.

The project was announced Tuesday by EDC Finance, a Lancaster-based nonprofit that helps local businesses get state and federal loans and grants.

For the Nook Sports project, EDC Finance helped the facility get a $355,000 loan from the Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority. The seven-year loan is at 2 percent interest.

Mike Messina, Nook Sports’ chief business development officer, said the project has two parts.

“One, it will allow us to separate our banquet and concessions kitchens. Currently, we are running both out of a very small kitchen. We will also be able to serve multiple large events at one time more efficiently,” said Messina.

This work is expected to be completed by June.

“Secondly, with enhancements to our large event space, Olympic Hall, we will be able to offer our clients a more finished and polished look. As a result of the PIDA loan, we will have our own pipe and drape (support frame and curtains), lighting and sound, which are things we currently have to rent,” he said.

These upgrades, plus the purchase of a new stage that’s more versatile, are to be in place by the end of summer.

Described as the largest indoor sports complex in North America, the 2913 Spooky Nook Road facility, off Route 283, already is a frequent host of non-sport events too.

 Last year, for instance, Nook Sports rented space for more than 350 events, including 250 non-sports events. That quantity of non-sports events has doubled in three years.

The pace is continuing in 2018.

This coming weekend, for instance, it will host the 44th annual Spring Home Show for the Building Industry Association of Lancaster County.

Last month, Nook Sports hosted the Lancaster County Friends of the NRA fundraiser.

Nook Sports isn’t forgetting its bread-and-butter business — sports. Nook Sports is expanding its reach in athletics too.

Locally, it’s agreed to buy Lanco Fieldhouse for $4 million. At the same time, it’s proposing a $38 million complex in Hamilton, Ohio.

Nook Sports opened in 2013 in a former Armstrong World Industries flooring distribution center.