Omniplex Civic Center officially opens; Officials tout record hotel occupancy for May, June

Published 9:36 pm Monday, July 28, 2025

The city of Cullman finalized what was described as a near-decades-long process on Friday, July 25, with the official grand opening of the new Omniplex Civic Center.

“This is a journey that started nearly 10 years ago. That is when we really started considering the local recreational needs for indoor space,” Cullman Parks, Recreation and Sports Tourism director Nathan Anderson said.

The new 115,000-square-foot facility now anchors the city’s recreational district, which includes the roughly 140 acres between Heritage Park and Ingle Park, and features 10 indoor basketball courts, 19 indoor volleyball courts and six indoor pickleball courts. Its main floor space is designed to accommodate up to 6,500 people with a modular design that can be reconfigured to host a variety of events such as concerts, expos or meetings.

Anderson addressed any skepticism for the need for such a large space by pointing to a number of other local recreational facilities which were also considered to be too large of an investment, but that the city has now outgrown such as Heritage Park and the Cullman Wellness and Aquatic Center.

“That’s just been our story all along. We try to learn from it, but I have a feeling that in a few years we are going to say that this wasn’t big enough and we’re going to fill it up,” Anderson said.

The Omniplex has already hosted several sporting tournaments and local day camps this year beginning in April. Anderson said those events have already demonstrated the value the facility has to boost local tourism revenue.

“So far 25,000 people have been through this facility, and we estimate the economic impact to be around $6 million. We had record hotel occupancy in May and June. Looking at the north Alabama region, we took first place for the first time in Cullman County’s history in hotel occupancy. It’s never been done in our history, and we beat out Lauderdale County and Madison County,” Anderson said.

Patrick Camp may be reached by email at patrick.camp@cullmantimes.com or by phone at 256-734-2131.