Renovations at Virginia Beach rec centers

VIRGINIA BEACH

Five of Virginia Beach’s six recreation centers will be spruced up this fall, thanks to more than $880,000 in renovations.

Over the coming months residents with memberships to the Great Neck, Bayside and Princess Anne centers will notice improved lobbies with more seating and centralized information desks, bigger viewing windows and new automated sliding entrance doors.

The facilities will remain open throughout the lobby renovations, although Kempsville Recreation Center will close for a week this fall for a lighting upgrade, and Seatack’s pool is closed until November for renovations.

Alice Striffler, the parks and recreation coordinator overseeing the lobby work, said the project was necessary because none of the facilities have been updated since opening in the early 1990s.

Corrosion made it necessary to replace the windows that look into the pool area from the lobbies. Great Neck is nearly finished with its lobby update, and Striffler expects everything will be completed by early September.

Parents have been pleased with the new storefront window that replaces a crossbar frame that obscured viewing, said Pam Fisher, supervisor for the Great Neck facility. Now parents have an easier time watching children during swimming lessons and other events.

“It’s amazing the difference it’s made,” Fisher said.

Bleacher seating will eventually be added for parents and members to watch pool events.

The Great Neck, Bayside and Princess Anne centers also will have larger aquatic office windows, making it easier for members to communicate with pool staff, Striffler said.

Great Neck consolidated its information and service desks, which used to be located at three areas throughout the building. Now there’s one desk near the entrance, where people can check in and have their membership cards scanned.

Having just one information desk reduces energy costs, Fisher said, as does the facility’s new automated sliding lobby doors. Great Neck patrons may soon notice new paint in the weight room, gymnasium and the halls connecting the two areas.

Kempsville Recreation Center will be closed Sept.  26 until Oct. 3 to upgrade the gym’s lighting.

In addition to the lobby project, the pool at Seatack is getting a new filtration system and resurfacing of the pool shell, or interior of the pool. Some loose tiles on the pool’s deck area also will be replaced.

Despite the pool’s closure, Carol Fernheimer, interim aquatic and therapeutic recreation coordinator for the city, said members are excited about the improvements.

“The pool shell is in pretty bad shape at this point,” Fernheimer said, adding that the new filtration system will improve water clarity.

The only city facility to not receive an upgrade this fall is Bow Creek. The center, opened in October 1979, is the second-oldest recreation building, and Striffler said there are bigger changes planned for it.

“We will basically redo that recreation center,” she said. “We have just selected an architecture firm to do the design. After that, we’ll start construction.”

Striffler estimates construction on the Bow Creek facility wouldn’t start until 2013.

Before that, in fall 2012, the city will open its seventh community center, Williams Farm Community Recreation Center, off Newtown Road. The building is under construction.

This fall’s recreation center maintenance projects cost $881,466. Typically, Striffler said, in determining the annual maintenance projects, the Parks and Recreation Department looks at mechanical repairs that need to be made.

“So this year,” she said, “we were looking at it from an operational standpoint.”