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Royal Palm Beach presents $21.5 million rec center expansion; design nearly complete, construction expected next spring
Summary
Village engineers said the rec center expansion design is 95% complete and a guaranteed maximum price is due this week; staff expects ground breaking in May–June and a short full-building closure of roughly 3–4 months during construction.
Village of Royal Palm Beach staff told the Recreation Advisory Board that the planned expansion of the municipal recreation center carries a current project budget of $21,500,000 and is close to construction-ready.
Chris Marsh, introduced by the chair as the village engineer, said the design is “95% complete” and that the design-build contractor is scheduled to deliver a guaranteed maximum price (GMP) this week. Marsh said the GMP, if acceptable, would go to the council for approval and that the procurement method will allow construction to start almost simultaneously with final design work.
Marsh said the village hopes to break ground in May or June, and that the project will be phased to keep most services operating during early work. He told the board the project will require a temporary full closure of the building for mechanical and electrical tie-ins, “we're hoping, 3 to 4 months” for the full closure window around late January–February, with the educational wing remaining open longer during construction.
The expansion described by staff includes a 4,100-square-foot wing composed of three rooms that can open into one large space, a larger fitness/exercise area with showers and locker rooms (access tied to daily fees or memberships), a new kitchen, restrooms, a new lobby and an exterior restroom to serve adjacent park users. Marsh said program space currently used by Young and Heart can hold about 150 people now and the new wing would expand that capacity to about 200.
Marsh also summarized the funding context: since 2017 the village has received a series of infrastructure receipts that totaled “just over almost $29,000,000” (as stated in the meeting), the 2024–25 receipts were described as a little over $5,000,000 and the village expects approximately $1,000,000 in program funding in the current fiscal year because the revenue program has reached its automatic sunset threshold.
Parks & Recreation staff said the village will present the GMP to the council when it is acceptable and will work to finalize schedule details in the following two to three weeks. No formal council action on the GMP was taken at the advisory board meeting.
Next procedural steps: staff said the GMP and final schedule will be routed to the council for approval; the board will receive updated timing and membership-sales guidance once the council takes action.
