HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — One Huntsville neighborhood is a big step closer to something new in their neck of the woods. The city broke ground today on the future West Huntsville Recreational Center on Martin Road. The facility's design mirrors the Mark Russell Recreation Center on Taylor Road.
Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle explained that once completed, this center will serve as a vibrant community hub. "Offering spaces for basketball, volleyball and the increasingly popular pickleball." Battle said you can never have too many pickleball courts. Parks and Recreation Director James Gossett is looking forward to those courts and much more at the 27,000 square ft. facility in West Huntsville. "It'll have a double gym, a fitness center, some multipurpose rooms so that we can, from a departmental standpoint, program this to meet the needs of this community."
Madison resident Evan Scott said the new rec center will mean a lot to him. "I usually have to drive 15 minutes minimum to get to a good rec center, to play basketball or to play soccer, anything like that. But, you know, that'll put me in about 5 minutes. So that'll actually be really helpful for me."
Colt Kehoe, an 8th grader at Athens Renaissance School added that this new rec center will be right up his alley. "Oh, I am really looking forward to the basketball courts. I'm a basketball dude myself, and any way I can get some slam dunks is fine with me. It's nice when you can just go and be like, yeah, I'm here. I don't have to wear a hat, get sunscreen, I can just do what I want without really having to bother about setting up for outdoors."
Colt's sister Kylie is a 5th grader, looking forward to new ways to expend some energy. "I'm like an all sports person. I love every kind of sport. I just like to get out there. I like to run. Usually where we go is Insanity. And so, I think it'd be really nice to have, like, a pickleball court or a basketball court, and it'd be just really fun."
Mayor Battle said he looks forward to coming back in about a year and opening the new rec center. The city says this new facility will raise the number of recreational and community centers to 15 throughout the city, complementing more than 65 public parks.