The buzz of construction equipment is not ready to leave the corner of Bosque Boulevard and Estates Drive in Woodway just yet.
As work wraps up on the Carleen Bright Arboretum, crews have broken ground across the street on a new Woodway Family Center building. Finishing touches remain for the arboretum, but the public is now welcome to explore the grounds overhauled after a behind-schedule sewer project cut a swath through the site.
The 19,000-square-foot Woodway Family Center, part of a bond-funded project with a $6.7 million budget, will sit between the building it is replacing and the police department building. The original Family Center building dates to about 1975, Assistant City Manager Lenny Caballero said. The city took ownership of the facility in 2004 and started planning the upgrade in December 2019.
Caballero said crews broke ground Nov. 10 and construction is set to be complete by November next year.
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A defining feature of the facility will be its front entrance, complete with a flashy green and purple net-like design in contrast to the current building’s cold, metallic finish. Caballero said he wanted to push RBDR, the architectural firm for the project, to do something spectacular and give residents a place they can enjoy and take photos with the city’s amenities.
“I want people to talk about it. I want people to feel proud of it,” Caballero said.
The net outside stands to represent part of what will be housed inside the family center: sports. Caballero said the new building will feature two full-size basketball courts that can be divided by a partition. This would allow two sports, like volleyball and basketball, to go on at the same time, he said.
The gym will also have updated seating, with bleachers along each side of the gym rather than a couple of chairs spread throughout.
Caballero said the new facility will embrace the family aspect of the center better, with a focus on activities and programming that extend beyond just athletics. He said the new center will have a large party room that can fit 100 people. The space can also host movie nights and daytime activities for senior-aged people, which could include ballroom dancing or aerobics.
“The old building wasn’t conducive to that kind of thing,” Caballero said.
He also said the pandemic highlighted a need to offer more hybrid and entry-level activities, naming skateboarding and archery as some activities that showed promise over the past summer.
The total cost for construction came out at $6 million, about $700,000 less than predicted with the city’s 2021 bond package, Caballero said. He said the extra money would give the city some flexibility in what happens with the old facility and could be put toward landscaping.
There are many ideas floating about what will be done with the old building. Caballero said the city council wanted to wait to demolish it at least until the new building is finished. The old facility could be replaced with an Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant playground, covered tennis courts, more parking or even a skate park, but Caballero said planning has not gotten that far yet.
“If council desires to do something with the old building, we have money to do it all,” Caballero said.
Down the street, the Carleen Bright Arboretum is open again after an extended sewer line project caused the park to close its doors in 2019. Caballero said there are still some finishing touches to be added around the park, including a kid’s area with a splash pad, directional signs and furniture. However, guests are welcome to explore the park’s soft opening leading up to a grand opening set for this spring, he said.
Bellmead center
Meanwhile, plans across town for a Bellmead Recreation Center are still in the works, which City Manager Yost Zakhary said could feature full- and half-court basketball, volleyball and pickleball.
Zakhary said the recreation center would likely offer activities for younger kids while leaving older youth athletics to what is already offered at La Vega Independent School District campuses.
“We want to complement what La Vega does, not compete with what they do,” Zakhary said.
Zakhary said a committee, made up of council members Karen Coleman, Jasmine Neal and Gary Moore, was appointed to look at the specific needs of a recreation center in Bellmead. He said the committee will hold public meetings for community input before the project would eventually require a bond election.