This $32M rec center in Pierce County will have mini golf and an indoor track
Sporting a springy turf field, indoor track and new sports courts, PenMet Parks’ new Recreation Center is almost ready for use.
The center, which PenMet Parks’ Executive Director Ally Bujacich told The News Tribune is set to open this year, will add space for youth sports and athletics in an area where fields and parks are in high demand.
“This is absolutely a space that is designed for everyone,” Bujacich said in an interview. “We have really tried to take our community’s needs into account.”
She declined to provide a more specific opening date, but said the park district will release the opening date by the end of May and likely sooner.
At 2524 14th Ave. NW., the new facility is located behind the park district’s Administrative Building, which opened in December 2023 and replaced a golf driving range. PenMet Parks purchased the 17.16-acre Performance Golf Center property in 2019 to build the recreation center, according to a news release.
The park district budget for the facility was $31.6 million dollars, as approved by the Board of Park Commissioners in 2021. That total includes $16 million from a bond included in the park district’s general levy, $11.6 million from capital reserves and $4 million from public and private philanthropic support, according to the PenMet Parks website.
Construction on the project, which was divided into two phases, began in 2023 after a ground-breaking ceremony in August of that year, the website says.
The first phase focused on building the PenMet Parks Administrative Building on a $1.5 million contract. The park district ran into a dispute with their first contractor, Grenlar Construction, over the scope of work completed before an agreed deadline and switched to J.A. Morris Construction, The News Tribune reported. PenMet awarded a $20.7 million contract to Jody Miller Construction to build the rec center facility in Phase 2.
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New PenMet rec center will have sports fields, mini golf
To get to the front entrance of the rec center from the headquarters building, visitors cross an open space that will be seeded with grass to be an event lawn. It will double as a U-10 (sized for kids under 10 years old) soccer field, and there will be power hookups available for food trucks during events, according to PenMet Director of Development Tracy Stirrett.
PenMet Parks Marketing Coordinator Heather Dyson confirmed in an email that the event lawn and field won’t have its own sports lighting, but will be well-lit through lights installed on the exterior of the rec center and light poles along the extended Cushman Trail. The approximately 0.4-mile extension, which will bring the Cushman Trail down to the overpass at 24th Street Northwest by the rec center, will nearly close the gap with the Scott Pierson Trail, according to the PenMet Parks website and staff. The Scott Pierson Trail begins on 24th Street Northwest and runs across the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.
One remnant from Performance Golf Center won’t be going away: a mini golf course, which crews were working on landscaping when a reporter visited the construction site on March 31. The golf course will get a refresh with some Pacific Northwest-themed elements, including models of a mom and baby whale, crab pots, a lighthouse and a replica of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge that you can walk over, Stirret told The News Tribune. Construction on the course began separately in March and it is expected to open in spring or early summer of 2025, according to the PenMet Parks website.
The interior of the rec center features the Jarzynka Memorial Fieldhouse, a 175-by-75-foot lit turf field with built-in goals that teams can use for soccer or lacrosse. The field is named the Jarzynka Memorial Fieldhouse for UW football legend Joe Jarzynka, who graduated from Gig Harbor High School in 1995.
Perpendicular to the indoor field is a multi-court sports court area. Sized to accommodate a full-size basketball game length-wise, the courts are also striped to accommodate multiple games of basketball, volleyball or pickleball at the same time. Two sets of hanging divider curtains roll down to divide the gym into three courts as needed, and the floor is striped to accommodate nine games of pickleball, according to Stirrett.
A real fishing net will be hung next to the courts to stop balls from bouncing into the lobby area. The Harbor History Museum donated it as a gift, and “it turns out that it’s the exact size that we needed to fill the space,” Stirrett said.
The PenMet rec center’s indoor track will be free to use
Upstairs, visitors can walk or jog a two-lane track overlooking the courts below. 11 laps around the Ben B. Cheney Foundation Track is one mile. Visitors don’t have to pay for a pass to use the track, according to the PenMet Parks website. The upper level is also accessible by an elevator.
Several smaller rooms round out the rest of the facility, including a multi-purpose fitness room, two community rooms and administrative offices. When finished, the multi-purpose fitness room will be equipped with a ballet barre, surround sound music, mirrors, a storage area for yoga mats and weights, and a shock-absorbing, three-layer floor to make exercise easier on the joints, according to Stirrett.
Another community room at the corner of the building has a roll-up door, similar to a garage door, that opens into an outdoor patio. In the spring and summer, people will be able to host meetings or parties in the room and spill out onto the patio, which will have tables and chairs, she said.
“Every room is designed to be multi-purpose, multi-use, for all ages, youth to seniors,” Stirrett told The News Tribune. She added that rooms will be available both for park district programming and for groups to rent out.
The park district’s programming has grown significantly over the last year. In 2024, the park district counted 10,687 hours of participation in their senior programs, a 157% increase from 4,144 hours of participation in 2023. The park district also saw a 195% increase in participant hours for their Specialized and Adaptive Recreation programs, and a 73% increase for their teen programs, according to its 2024 Annual Report.
Participant hours are calculated by multiplying the duration of an event by the number of participants. For example, a one-hour event with eight participants would have eight participant hours.
Artistic design choices for the facility, made based on community input, include graphics inspired by fishing nets and salmon on the walls, Stirrett told The News Tribune. There will also be an art corridor featuring pieces available for purchase through a partnership with the Peninsula Art League. 100% of the proceeds will go to the artist, and the pieces will be changed out several times throughout the year. The theme for the first installation is “water.”
The facility features lots of natural light, she added. Marketing Coordinator Heather Dyson said the light peach and yellow color scheme gives the place “a lot of energy.”
“I’ve heard people describe it as very modern, but also heard people describe it as a little retro too,” Stirrett said.
What will it cost to use the new PenMet rec center?
The facility will offer passes for a fee, using a sliding scale based on age group, desired number of visits and whether the user lives in the park district or outside of it.
For example, a single-use pass for a youth between 3-17 years old who lives in the PenMet Parks district is $5, a 10-use pass is $35 and a 20-use pass is $60. Families are eligible for a flat rate charged for members of the same household: $10 for a single-use pass if they live in the district, and $12 if they live outside it. The full price table is on the park district website.
The passes don’t include access to fitness classes or other programming at the center that requires registration, and miniature golf course passes will be paid for separately. Cash won’t be accepted, only electronic payments, according to the park district website.
