Work is underway on underground utilities for the 27,000-square-foot indoor soccer arena being built on the eastern extension of the Mistlin Sports Park on River Road in north Ripon.

The $2 million arena that will be completed this year is being funded by longtime Ripon resident philanthropist Tony Mistlin who owns Modesto’s Mistlin Honda dealership.

Mistlin has made numerous donations to the Ripon community. Among them are:

The water feature at East Main Street.

The Oak Street gazebo and park.

Land purchased to expand the sports park named in his honor.

Construction of the amphitheater at Mistlin Sports Park.

The interactive water feature at the sports park.

Artistic statues for the beautification of Mistlin Sports Park that includes a replica of the Coke bottle feature at Oracle Park and a statue of San Francisco Giants great Willie McCovey who Mistlin worked with as a fellow salesman at a Geary Street auto dealership years ago in  The City.

Funding for the elevator and other improvements to the water tower at the park that allows fans to go up to the second-floor balcony and eat their lunches while enjoying a game  

Mistlin paved the way for the soccer arena project in December of 2016 when he donated the $2 million. 

Chad DeGraff of Chad DeGraff development said the proposed arena “promises to be a very nice project.”  

DeGraff said it was designed it to “fit certain standards” within the concept of the total sports park that draws crowds every weekend with traveling teams coming from up and down the state and the Bay Area. He said that one feature of the indoor arena will be that retractable airflow doors will be added to both sides of the building to catch the outdoor breezes. 

Westbound traffic on River Road just north of Park View Elementary School was partially detoured this week to make way for earth movers doing site work on the property that was most recently an almond orchard. 

To contact Glenn Kahl, email gkahl@mantecabulletin.com.