Columbus, GA-based DVA Sports LLC, headed by banker Sal Diaz-Verson Jr. and insurance executive J. Shelby Amos, plans to break ground in first quarter 2004 on a 30-acre, 7,400-seat arena at the 5,500-acre Lakewood Ranch community here. The anchor tenant for the project is the Eastern Central Hockey League which has 31 franchises in the United States and Canada, according to Diaz-Verson. The landlord is Schoreder-Manatee Ranch Inc.

"As private investors, we have been carefully looking for a site and talking to different community leaders in the Sarasota-Manatee marketplace for more than two years," Diaz-Verson says. He calls the site in the northwest quadrant of the ranch "a location in a growing region that has the right demographics for this type of venue."

The complex will have 2,480 surface parking spaces, a full-service restaurant and bar, and community and business meeting space. Stadium Consultants International of Toronto designed the project. Walbridge Aldinger of Detroit is the general contractor.