Palm Beach Rec Center Construction Begins Wednesday

A date has been set to begin building the town's new $13.8 million recreation center.

Construction will start Wednesday, according to a town press release, setting in motion work on the new Seaview Park recreation center that was first proposed about two years ago but encountered several snags, including Town Council delays and a one-year legal battle.

But while construction will begin Wednesday, the building won't be demolished until mid-August, according to Pat Marshall, project manager for Hedrick Brothers Construction. Marshall said the first couple of weeks will be reserved for fencing the construction site and landscaping work.

The project is expected to be complete in fall 2019. Until then, much of the existing recreation center will be inaccessible, including the playground, front lawn, basketball court and athletic field. The only publicly accessible area will be the tennis courts, which may experience "occasional court shutdowns" due to construction, according to the release.

Camp Palm Beach, which is normally held at the recreation center, will move to Palm Beach Day Academy at 241 Seaview Ave. for Week 8 (this week) andWeek 9 (Aug. 6-10), according to the Palm Beach Recreation Department. Pick up and drop-off will be held at the school's cafeteria in the southeast corner.

Parking in the Royal Palm Way municipal parking lot will be "very limited," according to the release, and the town suggests drivers use on-street parking along Seaview Avenue.

The new recreation center will be built by Hedrick Brothers Construction, which also built Town Hall and the Par 3 Clubhouse. The total estimated budget for the project is $13.8 million, which will be evenly split among the Morton and Barbara Mandel Family Foundation, Friends of Recreation and the town. The Town Council approved the project in July.

Read More of Today's AB Headlines

Subscribe to Our Daily E-Newsletter