The new $11 million Shore Acres Recreation Center is now open
/The City of St. Petersburg hosted a grand opening event on Saturday for the new $11 million Shore Acres Recreation Center. The 21,064-square foot, two-story facility is located at 4230 Shore Acres Boulevard NE and will serve the 2,200 homes in the Shore Acres neighborhood and throughout St. Pete.
The old center, which closed in August 2020, was built in 1964 as a private facility. The City of St. Pete bought the property in 1971 for $51,000. The new facility is twice the size as the old building.
“We’re excited for the revitalization of the Shore Acres Campus that is home to the recreation center, aquatic facility and green space, which will bring more intergenerational recreational and educational opportunities not just to the neighborhood but to the St. Pete community,” said Mike Jefferis, Leisure Services Administrator with the City of St. Petersburg.
Programming is available for youth and adults, including yoga, Tae Kwon Do, dog obedience, sewing, youth seasonal camps and before and after school childcare.
The new Shore Acres Recreation Center features the following amenities:
A 6-lane swimming pool
An indoor gymnasium with leagues and “open gym” hours for basketball, volleyball, pickleball and more
A teen room with a projector for movies, rec games (ping pong and pool tables), video games, arcade games for campers to enjoy before and after school and seasonal camps.
A Discovery Room for arts and crafts, two multipurpose rooms, a tutoring room, and a conference room for rent to the public
A kitchen is available on the 2nd floor
An outdoor playground, multipurpose green space, and basketball courts
Additionally, the recreation center now includes over 100 spaces for vehicles and 18 for bicycles. The old facility had just 52 parking spaces.
The entrance to the new recreation center features a sculpture by The Urban Conga, a Brooklyn-based design studio focused on creating inclusive, engaging, and site-specific work that sparks creativity within the built environment.
The 30-foot-wide installation, titled TIDAL, lights up as you pass each pillar, which represent the tidal patterns of the area. The sculpture was designed using data points from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to spark conversation about climate change and sea level rise.
TIDAL is made of recyclable polycarbonate and aluminum that was fabricated locally to help mitigate the work’s carbon footprint. The work contains low-powered lighting and sits within a permeable planter bed to help with rainwater collection.
The new Shore Acres Recreation Center was designed by St. Pete-based Wannemacher Jensen Architects and built by Clearwater-based Creative Contractors.
The center is open from 7:00 am to 8:00 pm Monday through Friday and closed on Saturday and Sunday. Visit the Shore Acres Rec Center website for more information on programs, classes, and happenings.
