Brooklyn Park expanding city’s only recreation center and adding space for teens

Five days a week, the Zanewood Recreation Center in Brooklyn Park is the place hundreds of kids from kindergarten through high school go after class for food, fellowship and fitness.

For many, the city’s only recreation center “is a home away from home,” said Marcus Hill, a parks and facilities manager for the north metro suburb. But the building is so cramped and crowded that staff is no longer able to carry out effective programming, he said.

That’s about to change. On Monday, the City Council agreed to spend $9.8 million to renovate and expand the facility, which includes adding a new space exclusively for teens and young adults while at the same time bringing something new and needed to the most diverse and crime-ridden part of the city. If all goes well, groundbreaking could take place yet this fall and the new addition could open about a year from now.

The city awarded a contract to Donlar Construction at Monday’s meeting.

“We are very excited and we see value in this,” said Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley. “This will impact our teens. That is where we can provide healthy activity, and that is what the teen center intends to do.”

The new Zanewood facility will feature a gymnasium along with a game lounge, space for arts programming and a tech center sponsored by Best Buy where youths can explore a range of activities such as design and podcast and music production. The teen center will include a gaming lounge, “flex room” and ample space to hang out and build relationships with mentors, staff and peers. A workforce development program will help those seeking employment find a job and provide support and skills necessary to keep it, Hill said.

To make way for the building, outdoor basketball courts will be moved a bit to the north. An outdoor art garden and classes will be added, as will extra parking stalls. A new playground installed last year will remain, Hill said.

And perhaps the biggest advantage: The center will be open on weekends, not just weekdays.

Younger kids will benefit, too, Hill said. With teens in a new adjoining building, students in kindergarten through fifth grade will have their own dedicated space, a desire expressed by many residents when the city conducted a survey a few years ago.

Safety will be a huge component of the updated and expanded building, Hill said. A new entryway will require all who enter Zanewood to pass through a weapons detector before turning right to the current recreation center or left to the new teen center. Like school resource officers, Bruley said, police will have a presence on the campus with the goal of building positive relationships with kids.

Brooklyn Park has been dreaming of an expanded Zanewood since 2018 when voters passed a $26 million park referendum, with $2 million of that allocated to a new teen center. The COVID-19 pandemic put plans on pause, and supply chain issues and inflation pushed costs higher. The city asked but failed to get state bonding money.

With the council’s approval, the city will use $7.1 million in referendum funds to pay for the project, with the rest coming from a variety of other sources. Hill said the city also hopes to bring in revenue by renting out its gym for sports tournaments and a multipurpose room to churches or groups wanting to host activities such as pickleball.

“This will open the door to be more innovative with our youths,” said Tashawna Williams, Brooklyn Park’s art and engagement specialist. “It will help us expand our programming,” she said, noting that sewing, henna and other art classes could be added to the menu.

The expansion comes as the city has been seeking additional gym space, a dire need in the state’s sixth-largest city of more than 80,000.

Brooklyn Park has been exploring the idea of removing one of its ice rinks at its Community Center and replacing it with a gymnasium. Rink users have pushed back on that idea. The city continues to explore options to meet needs and demands, parks director Brad Tullberg said earlier this summer.

The neighborhood around Zanewood is the most diverse of any in Brooklyn Park, Hill said. And it has the highest crime rate in the city, Bruley said.

By building a safe place that freshens up the area, and bringing something to where it is needed most, the updated rec center can help transform the community, Hill said.

“It can change our city,” Hill said. “That is super exciting.”