Rodney Steven II to open a 6S at his Goddard sports complex.

There’s another 6S opening in the Wichita area, but this time it’s not a steakhouse.

Rodney Steven II is planning a 6S Sports at his almost 100-acre Genesis Sports Complex at 19800 W. Kellogg. It’ll be different than 6S Steakhouse, which he and his brother Brandon opened in west Wichita in 2018.

“It’ll be a nice restaurant (and) upscale sports bar for Goddard,” he said.

There will be indoor and outdoor pickleball courts along with volleyball courts, “a ton of sands sports,” cornhole and bocce ball.

Steven said it’s fair to compare it to a Chicken N Pickle.

“Yeah, on steroids.”

Steven called it “fun adult entertainment with exercise.”

“That’s what we do is just getting people moving.”

In addition to the Goddard 6S Sports, Steven will open a 6S Sports in North Kansas City where he’s planning his 60th new Genesis Health Club.

Site work for that Genesis, which will be in the One North development, will start in 60 days.

The Goddard Genesis that Steven is opening Aug. 27 was supposed to be No. 50 for the company, but he has been expanding his clubs so much that it’ll be No. 59 when it opens.

The Goddard 6S Sports will open next summer. The one in Kansas City will open in about a year and a half.

“We’re looking at doing a few more,” Steven said.

He’s also looking to replicate the entire Goddard complex out of state.

That includes 10 baseball and softball fields that are already open in Goddard, a natatorium, an indoor water park called Blast Off Bay, which will have a soft opening in October, at least one hotel, a preschool, an arcade, four sets of locker rooms and a gift shop.

A full-service, 133-room Hampton Inn with a full bar will open in November.

Steven already is planning a second hotel.

“That is in the plans for the future,” he said. “We think the demand will be there.”

He’s not sure what the hotel brand will be yet.

“The project itself, it’s grown,” he said. “It’s almost doubled the size we thought it was going to be.”

The price tag at this point is $60 million.

“Once you get into it, you just want it to be better and better and better,” Steven said.

He also continues to learn along the way. It’s a lot of firsts for Steven — like his first indoor water park, his first natatorium — unlike when he opens new health clubs.

“I feel like I’m building five different projects there at once, so that’s added some complexity,” he said.

“We were making these drawings the entire time. . . . We were in the design-build phase for way too long.”

It didn’t help that much of the work happened in a pandemic, too.

Now that he has the plans, though, Steven can take them elsewhere.

“We’re looking at some sites now.”

He said the sites are out of state.

Though he said he’s happy the Goddard projects are almost in his rearview mirror, he said it’s not been drudgery.

“It’s been fun.”

This story was originally published August 11, 2022 4:47 AM.