Work on renovating the Shawano Recreation Center is moving full speed ahead, but city officials are warning that once the actual construction and renovation work begins, patrons will need to temporarily exercise somewhere else.
“Right now, we’re very heavily into the design component,” said Matt Hendricks, park and recreation director. “Typically, on larger projects like this, you have a quite a bit of time. Like with a referendum project or even the Naberhood, there’s a year of design work. With the grant dictating the timeline, that really condensed that.”
The city received a $4.25 million Flexible Facilities Program grant from Gov. Tony Evers last fall. While the grant is expected to add about 5,000 square feet to the existing building, which is already about 11,000 square feet, its requirements mandate the city break ground on the project this summer. That means the city is putting the project out to bid in February with requests required by March so the Shawano Common Council can finalize matters in April.
With the work beginning in June or July, the recreation center will need to close temporarily, according to Hendricks; right now, the closure time is up in the air. Even though there are no renovations to the pool in the plans, that will also be closed because the only way into the pool is through the recreation center, he said.
“We did spend some time evaluating ways to keep portions of it open, and quite honestly, there just really isn’t,” Hendricks said. “That’s because of the magnitude of the project. We’re gutting the entire building. So outside of the pool, everything else — including the walls — are getting removed and rebuilt. We can’t operate the pool if we don’t have locker rooms or restrooms for people to change.”
Hendricks said the length of time the center will be closed will come into focus once a construction company has been hired. He said the city projected the loss of some fees for use of the center in this year’s budget.
“We don’t know how accurate we will be,” Hendricks said.
He noted that the city might look at working with the Shawano School District, at least regarding pool use, even though the district expects to be busy with its own renovation and construction work following a successful voter referendum in November. With summertime, outdoor options could also come into play.
“Could swimming lessons take place at Smalley Park, or could some of these programs that we use the facility for occur somewhere else?” Hendricks said. “It’s probably hard to have an outside exercise room and gym, so some of those things may not occur.”
Work on the recreation center must be completed by September 2026 to comply with the terms of the grant.
The final design for the project is close, according to Hendricks. He noted that there have been about a dozen alterations to make sure everything is perfect. The center will be renovated for the addition of telehealth offices, an expanded exercise room, family friendly locker rooms that are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act and high speed internet access.
“We do have a design plan that we’re running with,” Hendricks said. “We’re probably at the 12th iteration — sometimes minor tweaks, sometimes more major.”
One part of the plan includes putting the entire center under a single system for heating, ventilation and air conditioning, according to Hendricks. The recreation center was originally built in the 1960s, and the aging systems contributed to an incident in January where the center had to close for a few days due to difficulties maintaining warm temperatures in the building and pool.
“(Experts) are telling us this (plan) can be done for $4.25 million,” Hendricks said.
Even with rising construction costs, city officials are hopeful that the renovations can be covered completely by the grant.
The city is also hoping to expand the recreation center to include a large gym space, but that is expected to cost another $3.5 million, which is not covered under the grant. Officials are looking into ways to fund the second phase without using taxpayer dollars.
lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com
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