Fill out this form to email this article to a friend
Wildwood rec center gets more renovations
A lighted football practice area and tennis courts are coming, as is a 76-space parking lot.
By JON WILSON
Published August 16, 2006
ST. PETERSBURG - Wildwood recreation center, which received a $4.5-million facelift a few years ago, is getting another big boost. Construction is starting this month on a $1.2-million job that will bring the showcase Midtown complex a lighted practice football field, a 76-space parking lot and two lighted tennis courts. Restroom and concession facilities are scheduled to be added in the not-too-distant future. The project, which includes a fraction less than 3 acres to the east of the center, will require closing three roads after the site preparation work is completed: Irving Avenue S between Yale and 26th streets; 10th Avenue S between Yale and 26th streets; and 26th Street S between 10th and 11th avenues. There will still be access to a juvenile justice building nudging the recreation's center northeast corner. The center is at 1000 28th St. S. In a separate project, youth football play started last weekend at Bartlett Park when the Silver Raiders organization held its season-opening jamboree. One practice field and one game field will serve the Silver Raiders, who had been practicing at Coquina Key. Both new fields are lighted. A $100,000 grant from the National Football League paid for much of the $315,000 project, and the rest came from grants, said John Green, the city's capital improvements director. The fields at Wildwood also will serve a youth football organization - the Gibbs Jr. Gladiators. Baseball and softball leagues will continue to use the center. The tennis courts replace the ones demolished to make way for the revamped center, which opened in 2001. The community had been enthusiastic about replacing the courts, Green said. During the past three years, the city acquired 32 pieces of property in Wildwood Heights to accommodate the field and courts. The contractor for the job is Mathews Construction, which is based in Tampa. Penny for Pinellas, the 1-cent sales tax, is the funding source.
[Last modified August 15, 2006, 21:28:50]
Share your thoughts on this story
|
News
Fifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.
Print
Email story
Comment
Email editor
