Brooklyn Park Approves Funding To Expand Zanewood Rec Center
The Brooklyn Park City Council unanimously approved on Monday night a funding plan to expand the Zanewood Recreation Center.
The expansion will create a new separate space for teens, while the existing space will be dedicated for younger children. The total cost of the project is estimated to be $10 million.
“We want it to be a building that people are proud of, that people are drawn to and attracted to” said Brad Tullberg, the city’s director of recreation and parks.
The council agenda item drew a contingent of project supporters, including Cindy Hill, who has long pushed for the project.
“The things that have been going on within our city with our youth, this is our time,” Hill told the council before the vote. “They’ve been calling for help. We need to answer that call.”
The expansion will include a full-length indoor basketball court, a gaming lounge and a Best Buy Teen Tech Center that will feature both a music studio and a podcast studio. The new facility will also offer space for workforce development and an intervention space that will allow counselors to work with at-risk teens.
The existing space will be renovated for K-5 student programming.
A plaza and green space for outdoor events would also be added.
Tullberg said the project has been in the planning phase for the past 13 months.
Rendering of planned addition to Zanewood Recreation Center, which is nicknamed “The Wood” by local youth.
Funding for Expansion Includes Shifting 2018 Referendum Funds
While the project had support, what it didn’t have was full funding. The city sought state bonding, but the legislature didn’t approve a bonding bill this year.
To help make it happen, the city will shift $5.1 million in funds from its 2018 park bond referendum. Another $1.5 million would come from the city’s Open Space, Land Acquisition and Development fund and $750,000 through federal Community Development Block Grant funding.
“I recognize that these shifts were not part of the original plan, or what was voted on in 2018, but certainly as staff, we’re committed to delivering the projects as the project goals were planned back in 2018, even if it means the timing or the resources may be different,” Tullberg told the council. “We’ve learned that delaying these projects further and further, they become more expensive.”
The city had some funds already set aside for the expansion, including $2 million previously designated from the 2018 referendum, $500,000 from 2023 Congressional Directed Spending funds and a $150,000 grant from Best Buy.
Of the $5.1 million in funds reallocated from the $2018 park bond referendum, $3.5 million would be directed away from a future park that would eventually get built at the last stop of the future Blue Line light rail extension at 101st and Winnetka avenues.
Council members were assured future funding would come through to complete projects where funds were reallocated.
“I would rather spend $4 million on a shovel-ready project that has real humans waiting for it than save the money for a future eventuality that is currently cornfields and brush,” said Brooklyn Park City Council member Christian Eriksen.
Other reallocated funds would include $500,000 shifted away from maintaining natural resources, $800,000 from the Historic Eidem Farm and $400,000 from trails, lighting and wayfinding.
Construction is slated to begin in September with project completion targeted for May 2025.
Also See: Brooklyn Park’s Zanewood Recreation a Hub of Activity This Summer
