Just six months ago, The Edge Sports Center of Bedford was an idea, well, two ideas, really. Now, the brainchild of Brian DeVellis and Scott Fusco, the gaudy steel skeleton across from Raytheon on Hartwell Road more closely resembles an athletic complex with each passing day.

DeVellis a Bedford resident, and developer by trade, identified the town’s need for more field space, specifically indoors. Fusco, a Winchester resident, runs a girls hockey program of selects ages 7 to 19 called the East Coast Wizards, and was looking to secure a rink where his program could play.

The pair joined forces to develop the completely privately funded Edge Sports Center of Bedford, after they were introduced by mutual friends.

They broke ground the third week in April, and thus far, “everything’s gone pretty well,” said Fusco.

Once complete, The Edge Sports Center’s facility will include a pro shop and concession area that will stand between the 200 feet x 85 feet regulation hockey rink and the indoor sports facility, with a total turf area of 225 feet by 95 feet and 10,000-square-foot athletes’ training center. The rink will have seating for about 300, the turf will have standing room only. Parking and entrances will be located at both the front and rear of the facility

If the current construction schedule sticks, the rink will be open by Oct. 1, for the start of hockey season, and the turf will follow suit a few weeks later.

DeVellis and Fusco plan on being completely up and running by Nov. 1.

They anticipate the rink will be used for “select” boys and girls hockey (Boston Junior Eagles and East Coast Wizards), local (Bedford-Lexington) youth hockey, two high school hockey programs (Bedford and Lexington) and drop-in hockey, as well as the learn-to-skate program, synchronized skating, figure skating and public skating hours.

Using the sports center as their home ice will benefit Bedford High School because not only will they save money by not bussing the players to and from the rink in West Concord, but the team will be able to practice after school instead of at 5 a.m. Also, there will be a separate locker room reserved for Bedford High School during the hockey season, so they won’t have to lug their equipment with them to and from the rink.

Fusco said The Edge Sports Center could result in a “big quality of life improvement” for the families of hockey players. There is a huge, untapped demand for ice time in the area, said Fusco. “We look at our market as a ½ hour radius.”

The turf section of the complex will have one big piece of turf and netting can divide the turf into two fields arranged perpendicularly – the larger measuring 160 feet x 95 feet and the smaller being 125 feet x 75 feet – or into three fields.

He anticipates the turf will be used by youth and adult indoor soccer and lacrosse for practices and training. Baseball and football could eventually be played on the turf, which will be made available to high school sports teams as needed. Programs for younger kids, likely run by the Recreation Department, will be offered as well, said Fusco.

“The space is big enough you can pretty much do anything,” he said.

Amy Hamilton, director of Bedford Recreation, said the Recreation Department has had several meetings with developers to determine how it makes the most sense to work together – as far as who runs what and so forth.

“We’ve been talking about various programs specifically, and how it would be best to manage the programs,” she said. “We’ve just been, you know, working together, feeling our way with them to determine what’s best for the community.

“They’re easy to work with, and they absolutely want to work with the community,” said Hamilton. “It’s an exciting time for everybody.”

Some details still need ironing out, and The Edge Sports Center is looking for potential employees to work in maintenance, marketing and managing retail, as well as zamboni drivers.

More information on the facility is available at www.theedgesportscenter.com

By Patrick Ball | Copyright 2007 Bedford Minuteman. Some rights reserved

STRATHAM — It was up on a rise overlooking an old cornfield and a shag bark hickory tree that golf great Arnold Palmer met the members of the Golf Club of New England.

The event, held under a white tent to shade the 150 guests from the sweltering sun, was billed as a ground-breaking for the millionaires’ golf club, which will cover 450 acres of Stratham and Greenland when it is done. And although Palmer never laid a hand on a shovel at the event, he did touch a lot of hearts. “He’s the most gracious man I have ever met,” said John M. Kehoe Jr., president and chief executive officer of The General Chemical Group and GCNE’s president. “This is great,” agreed Craig Benson, founder of Cabletron Systems in Rochester.

Introducing Palmer to the crowd underneath the tent, Kehoe called it “an absolutely unadulterated thrill. “This is the finest ambassador of the game of golf ever,” he said. He also announced that the road leading from Winnicutt Road to the new course will be named Arnold Palmer Drive. GCNE hired Palmer Course Design Company to design the chic, state-of-the-art course. Palmer, who stood beside the makeshift stage, bowed graciously at the honor of having the road named for him. And when he took the stage, the golf great brought laughs from the crowd.

The levity came when a GCNE member asked if Palmer would return for the opening of the course next year. “When we open this up, will you come up and play the first round of golf with us,” the man asked. “God hopes I will,” joked Palmer, apparently referring to his 71 years and his health. “I don’t even buy green bananas anymore,” he quipped. Palmer called the rolling Stratham and Greenland fields and forest that will be created into fairways “fantastic.”

In fact, Kehoe said Palmer’s enthusiasm for the Stratham site is the reason they chose his design company to build it. “When you come to New Hampshire and have a piece of property like this, it makes you drool,” said Palmer, whose company builds six to 12 golf courses a year. “The naturalness of this land is going to make it a classic golf course.” Palmer, who just finished the Fleet Boston Classic on Sunday, a Senior PGA Tour event, will compete in the U.S. Senior Open on Thursday at the Salem Country Club in Peabody, Mass.

Brian DeVellis, the design consultant who went through two years of permit-seeking to make the golf course come true, said he was happy to see Monday arrive. “It’s been a long haul,” he said, smiling. GCNE spokesman Brad Sweet called yesterday’s event a great success. “It was unbelievable.” More than 140 members have shelled out $55,000 each to join the posh new club. They were joined yesterday by local officials and the press for the Palmer visit. Kehoe announced that GCNE expects to receive its final Army Corps of Engineers permit mid-week and will begin building the golf course in earnest by week’s end.

The 18-hole, 7,200-yard, 72-par golf course will feature a $4 million golf clubhouse. In addition to the clubhouse, the Stratham side of the course will include 10 member homes and four of the 18 holes. The maintenance buildings will also be located in Stratham.

A total of 146 acres of the golf course are in Stratham. The remaining 295 acres are in Greenland. The 12,000-square-foot clubhouse will feature an 18-table dining room that can accommodate 72 diners.

The founding fathers of the club are Craig Benson, founder of Cabletron Systems in Rochester; Stephen W. Foss, chairman and chief executive officer of Foss Manufacturing Co.; John M. Kehoe Jr., president and chief executive officer of The General Chemical Group; Neil Garvey, president of Tyco Submarine Systems; and L. Dennis Kozlowski, chairman and chief executive officer of Tyco International.

By Susan Nolan | Exeter Newsletter