New Soccer Fields Near City Hall Poised to Elevate Virginia Beach’s Recreation Scene

By HRCNN Staff Writer
Hampton Roads Construction News Network

VIRGINIA BEACH — New multipurpose soccer fields are being finished within the Princess Anne Commons civic campus near City Hall, adding playable capacity in the heart of Virginia Beach’s Municipal Center. While the City has not yet posted an official project page or opening date for these civic-campus fields, the location fits squarely within Princess Anne Commons’ long-standing role as the City’s recreation hub and a focal point for sports tourism. HRCNN has requested additional details from Parks & Recreation and will update as soon as they’re released.

The new fields will sit amid a cluster of destination venues. Immediately nearby, the Princess Anne Athletic Complex (PAAC) offers eight lighted tournament-quality softball/baseball diamonds and eight multipurpose fields—four lighted synthetic and four Hybrid Bermuda—positioning the campus for year-round programming across soccer, football, lacrosse and more.

Across the street, the Virginia Beach Sportsplex anchors the corridor with a soccer-specific stadium and adjacent training fields, part of a larger complex that includes the USA Field Hockey National Training Center. The Sportsplex stadium seats roughly 6,000 and opened in 1999; it’s directly across from PAAC and near the Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater—together forming a contiguous, tournament-ready zone.

City actions over the last year underscore sustained investment in this corridor. In October 2024, City Council approved funding to replace artificial turf at the Sportsplex, add lights at Field Hockey Field 2, convert grass fields at the Field Hockey complex, and create a grass training area—clear signals of capacity-building around the campus. In March 2024, the Convention & Visitors Bureau’s reinvestment study highlighted strong demand for additional lighted turf and recommended, among other items, converting two PAAC rectangular grass fields to artificial turf with lights—improvements that align with expanding soccer use in Princess Anne Commons.

From a community-impact lens, adding playable fields near City Hall improves access for youth leagues, school teams, and regional tournaments while distributing activity across a walkable civic campus. The same reinvestment study projected that field upgrades at PAAC and the Sportsplex could drive dozens of new or expanded events and thousands of additional contracted room nights annually—evidence that well-sited field capacity is an economic development tool as much as a recreation amenity.

Planning policy also supports this trajectory. The Princess Anne Commons & Transition Area guidance in the City’s Comprehensive Plan calls out the district’s unique role in education, entertainment, and recreation, and the long-standing Princess Anne Commons design and corridor studies emphasize cohesive development and connectivity across civic uses—exactly where these new fields are taking shape.

Zooming out, the broader soccer ecosystem here is deep. In addition to PAAC and the Sportsplex, the nearby Hampton Roads Soccer Complex (HRSC)—a separate, 75-acre facility—continues to modernize (including a 2025 project to upgrade fields) and hosts tens of thousands of out-of-town visitors each year, reinforcing the area’s regional draw for the sport.

About HRCNN — The Hampton Roads Construction News Network covers the region’s construction, zoning, infrastructure, and land-use developments with field reporting and document-based analysis. We connect the dots between policy, permitting, and project delivery—so residents, industry, and decision-makers can see how today’s choices shape tomorrow’s communities.