AUBURN, IN — A developer has officially bought the Auburn auction Park with plans to create a youth sports complex.

The Auburn Auction Park, which has hosted classic automobile auctions that drew tens of thousands of car enthusiasts and bidders for decades, has been sold.

J.T. Fisher Properties LLC has purchased the property, which is located off of County Road 11-A, just off Interstate 69, from RM Sotheby’s auction company.

The sale makes way for the long-anticipated Auburn Sports Group’s youth sports complex called Auburn Sports Park. The proposed sports complex is a $42 million development on the 168-acre site of the auction park that will aim to draw in regional and national tournaments, sports camps and local sports teams.

Developers also plan to build on 70 acres on the south side of County Road 11-A.

The Auburn Sports Group said an additional $100 million could be put into the project.

The project will be considered by the Auburn Plan Commission in March.

Play could begin at the complex this summer if the project stays on schedule. Officials with the Auburn Sports Group said they’d like to have part of the complex open by June.