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Draper Journal

Steel tariffs add projected $1 million to upcoming Draper Rec Center

Jun 03, 2019 03:00PM ● By Mimi Darley Dutton

A rendering of the nearly 60,000-square-foot Draper Recreation Center which will include two indoor pools and a fieldhouse in addition to workout equipment and a room for classes such as yoga. Doors are expected to open in early 2020. (Courtesy Salt Lake County)

By Mimi Darley Dutton | [email protected]

Draper will soon be home to the county’s newest recreation facility built in the last seven years. The center is located on Vestry Road, adjacent to the Draper outdoor pool that was built nearly 30 years ago. The new facility will open its doors in early 2020. 

“We’re excited to provide another dynamic and highly efficient facility to serve the county,” said Angelo Calacino, park development project manager with Salt Lake County. He described the new facility as basically three different cubes put together in contemporary style with masonry and metal components. Calacino said the county designed the building to fit the site and its needs while trying to preserve existing park space. Architectural Nexus served as architect and Layton Construction is the contractor. 

Funding for the nearly 60,000-square-foot building came primarily from the ZAP (Zoo, Arts & Parks) tax approved in 2016. According to Rhett Ogden, Draper Parks and Recreation director, Draper City contributed over $2 million toward the building. “It’s a county facility and partnership with Draper City,” Ogden said. As a result of the city’s contribution, the county will allocate hours for Draper City programming at the facility.

“We’ll have time allocated by the county to run city programming that we think is best for residents. They’d register with Draper City and it would take place in the county facility,” Ogden said. Canyons School District also donated to the project so local high school swim teams could use the pool for swim meets and practices. “That’s pretty common. The city usually contributes as well as the local school district. Most of the recreation centers have that type of agreement in place,” Calacino said.

Ground was broken and construction began in the fall of 2017. “We figured on 20–24 months of construction. We’re shooting to be finished by the end of the year with the facility to open in early 2020,” Calacino said. Steel tariffs added about $1 million to the projected cost of the facility, expected to be about $22 million upon completion.

The facility will have two stories with 52,331 square feet on the first floor and 7,486 square feet on the upper level for a total of 59,817 square feet. Parking for 312 cars is planned.

What sets this facility apart from others is a fieldhouse component. While the county partners with University of Utah to run some programming out of the university’s fieldhouse, this will be the county’s first fieldhouse that they’ll program, operate and maintain as part of a recreation center. Ogden described the fieldhouse as “A big, open, indoor turf area that can be used for a variety of activities, but mainly soccer, football and lacrosse.” Ogden said there will also be batting cages that will drop down from the ceiling for baseball practice. “It really opens itself up to a variety of things you can do. It’s basically just a field indoors. You can use it year-round because it won’t be cold or covered in snow,” he said. 

In addition to the existing outdoor pool and the fieldhouse, the facility will consist of two pools: a leisure pool featuring a slide, toys and a lazy river, and an eight-lane, 25-meter competition pool with observation seating. There will be party rooms next to the leisure pool, available to the public for rental. “Big garage doors will open up from the new aquatics area that will lead out to the current one. Depending on if you want to swim in the shade or sun, you’ve got two options there,” Ogden said. 

There will be a fitness room on the main level with weights, strength and conditioning equipment including treadmills. The upper level will have a multipurpose room with a wood floor for activities such as dance, karate, aerobics and yoga. There will be drop-in childcare as well as several banks of lockers in different areas of the facility. Rather than men’s and women’s locker rooms, the facility will offer several changing rooms, each self-contained with a shower, toilet and sink. “Newer recreations centers around the country are going with this model so there is no concern over a father or mother going with a child, or for transgender — it will be neutral,” Calacino said. There will be men’s and women’s restrooms and unisex/family restrooms as well. 

The facility will be LEED certified. “We’re shooting for a gold certification — that’s a county standard on all new buildings. Because it’s LEED certified, it needs to go through a flush-out. The mechanical systems are run for about a week or two to flush out toxins, chemicals, then they test the air quality as part of our environmental certification,” Calacino said of a process that will take place before the center opens.

“They’re really trying to be conscious of the environment and protective of natural resources, making it cost efficient as possible,” Ogden said.

The county will offer various passes such as family or individual, similar in cost to existing county facilities like Dimple Dell. The county plans to use some current staff from older facilities and reposition some people, but they’ll likely be hiring new staff as well.

Homeowners in the Vestry Road area have mixed feelings about the new facility. Some have seen their city views dissipate and were surprised by the height of the facility. They also have concerns over the noise and increased traffic the new building will bring. But others are excited at the prospect of using the new facility. 

“It will be a great addition to the entire area and especially for the Clinton family. We will be within walking distance of a state-of-the-art recreation center with swimming pools, exercise equipment and youth sports facilities,” said Pat Clinton, area resident. 

As a result of construction, Draper’s outdoor pool will be closed this summer. The county hopes to refresh it with new paint and possibly new aquatic play structures and lighting so it ties in with the new building. The outdoor pool will re-open next summer.