ORANGE : Sports Site to Emerge at Old School

Trucks already are hauling mountains of dirt around the grounds of what was once the Peralta Middle School as part of a project to transform it into a giant sports facility that will open early next year.

The Orange Unified School District last month gave Super Sports Inc. a 20-year lease for the school, which has been closed for nearly 10 years and more recently had become the haunt of vandals.

A spokesman for Manhattan Beach-based Super Sports said the 21-acre site will still attract local youngsters, but for the more acceptable activities of Little League practice, roller hockey and soccer.

Adults who had worried about the derelict site can look forward to a 64-stall golf driving range, a community center, a running course--complete with exercise stations--and a child care center.

“It’s a pretty complete facility,” said Peter Moersch, marketing director for Super Sports, of the property behind the Orange Mall at Meats Avenue and Canal Street. “The goal in doing all this is to give the kids something more productive to do with their time. . . . There are some problems with kids at the mall loitering, and the neighbors are a little afraid that gangs are in the neighborhood.”

District officials had consulted closely with nearby homeowners before giving the lease to Super Sports. “The Super Sports project was the one the neighbors preferred,” said Joyce Capelle, the district’s chief fiscal officer.

Rent for the facility is based on income, so the district’s profit will rise and fall with the fortunes of Super Sports.

Moersch said the 13-year-old company is pouring millions of dollars into the site to ensure its success.

“We’re trying to make this the highest-quality sporting facility,” he said.

Reclaiming the campus would have cost the strapped district about $3 million, officials said.