By William C. Singleton III
Journal contributor
The new $16.2 million Homewood Community Center should be ready to open by Memorial Day weekend, the city’s parks and recreation director said recently
“We haven’t set a hard date yet on the official opening,” Berkley Squires said. “But we’re on target, and we’re still eyeing being open for the Memorial Day weekend.”
The city of Homewood has spent the past year building a new 51,830-square-foot recreation center at 1632 Oxmoor Road and Central Avenue in the heart of downtown Homewood. The new building will replace a much smaller and older recreation center which was torn down to make way for the facility now under construction.
The new center will include two gyms, additional fitness rooms, a banquet hall, a meeting room, a bigger main entrance and lobby, a larger indoor running track and a pool with competition lanes.
Squires said construction on the pool has been slowed by the weather, but he doesn’t foresee it prohibiting the pool from opening this summer.
The parks and recreation department has relocated its operation to the former Homewood courthouse satellite office off Green Springs Highway. The parks department will move to the new center once it opens.
In anticipation of increased attendance at the new center, parks officials have begun early registration for membership.
“We noticed that people were registering for membership, and we decided to go ahead and get started so we won’t be bombarded when we move into the new building,” Squires said.
The parks department is offering different membership packages based on when patrons register.
For more information, visit www.homewoodparks.com.
