An old building is getting a new life and its impact is expected to be huge.
The old Grissom High School is being turned into the Sandra Moon Community Complex. There will be three sports fields, 12 pickleball courts, a performing arts center, and a new library.
The class of 2017 was the last to walk the hallways, but now the school that’s been called the heart of the community will find a different kind of beat.
“I hear it over and over again, ‘this is better than Grissom,'” said Jennie Robinson with the Huntsville City Council. “Because this is something that the entire community can use.”
It’ll be a hub for sports and the arts with a library with classrooms and gym with an indoor track.
“It will give us opportunities for art festivals, movies in the lawn, concerts in the park.” Robinson said. “There will be a festival space, which is something we don’t have right now. So it will really change the scope of what goes on in that area and it will really be a strength for the Bailey Cove area.”
The director of Arts Huntsville, which gets to take over the theater, says performance space is one of their biggest needs and the theater is already built, which saves millions of dollars.
The center pod that connects the north part of the school with classrooms and the south part with the theater and gyms will be the first thing to come down. Then by the beginning of next year all of the north part will be gone and replaced by the new library.
It’s what’s behind all of this that has a Pars and Recreation supervisor who works with people with special needs excited.
“We had a parent comment saying, ‘You know this is the first time my child picked up a golf club,'” said Special Populations Supervisor Tia Clayton about a previous event. “So we want to introduce recreation and sports of all different kinds. There’s a number of people who haven’t played pickleball before and we want to get everybody playing pickleball.”
Tournaments and festivals mean an economic boost. But for those who live here, folks of any age or with a disability, programs at the complex will mean a boost in confidence in themselves.
“We want them to know everybody’s able to do certain things and whatever you like to do just do it to the best of your ability,” Clayton said. “Everyone’s gonna be included in our sport and recreation program.”
The south half of the complex is expected to be ready to go by next summer. Construction on the library will still be going on for possibly a year after that.
