The Grove to open outdoor sports venue in Lowell

Entrepreneur Bill Adams has invested nearly $1.2 million to renovate a 9,000-square-foot building into a comedy club, restaurant and bar, and to add a sports complex on 5 acres in Lowell.

The Grove Entertainment Complex at 808 S. Bloomington St. (U.S. Highway 71B) will include a field for rugby, cricket and flying disc games, two pickleball courts, two beach volleyball courts and an outdoor bar. The pickleball courts can be converted into a stage for outdoor concerts with lawn seating, and Adams plans to install an artificial turf field for human billiards games, complete with holes, or pockets, in the ground.

The idea for the sports complex came about when he served in the U.S. Army and was stationed in Germany. He explained that each town would have restaurants and bars with soccer fields where the community would gather, and he wanted to bring that concept here to the Lowell facility.

“I’m trying to develop an area where the culture of Northwest Arkansas can come and enjoy sports, enjoy the weather, enjoy a nice seat on the deck with a cold beer, hopefully a local beer, and just have a place where everybody can come hang out,” Adams said. The outdoor field, or Woodie’s Pitch, is expected to open this spring, and the complex will be open from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily. The first music act to play on the outdoor stage is set for March.

The comedy club opened April 20 after moving from a 3,000-square-foot Rogers location. The Lowell facility has a capacity of 380 people and comfortably holds 140 people for comedy shows, Adams said. The restaurant is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday. On Saturdays, it opens at 5 p.m., and comedy starts at 7 or 7:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Sometimes two shows take place on Saturday, and ticket prices range from $8 to $20. About 28 staff work at the complex, and Adams also operates food truck Woodie’s Wagon.