MEDINA, Ohio – Medina Community Recreation Center Director Mike Wright wants to build an addition to the fitness room to provide space for those who prefer to work out with functional fitness equipment such as free weights, kettlebells, climbing ropes and suspension trainers.
To do so, he’s going to be getting some exercise of his own.
He will be going back and forth among City Council and its committees, the Medina City Schools Board of Education and the recreation center’s advisory board to get the necessary approvals.
That’s because the recreation center is a partnership between the city and the school district. Under the center’s joint operating agreement, the school district owns the building and the city operates the facility.
So building the $557,000, 4,800-square-foot addition will be a complicated endeavor.
But Wright thinks it will be worth it.
He said the current fitness room is already the most used area in the recreation center. The addition would provide much needed space and a place for a different style of exercise.
Functional fitness has been growing in popularity, with the emergence of brands such as TRX and Cross Fit. A number of private gyms offering this type of fitness have opened up locally in recent years.
Wright said being able to offer functional fitness at the recreation center should improve retention of members, draw new members and bring back former members who left to join those other gyms.
Total cost for the project, including new equipment, is estimated at $650,000. That money will come from the recreation center’s carry-over fund, which currently sits at about $1 million, Wright said.
He said it’s been a while since the center has created a new space. In 2010, the center added its balcony, which houses the track and several small free-weight stations.
Wright met with City Council’s Public Works committee on Jan. 31 and with the school board last night. He will go before the recreation center advisory board later this week and will return to the council’s Finance Committee after that.
All three entities would have to sign off on the project before work could begin.
Wright noted that the funding would not come from the center’s capital improvements fund, which is overseen by both City Council and the school board.
“This is a $650,000 investment that’s completely paid for by the city,” Wright told school board members last night. “You will own the building.”
Construction would be overseen by the school board, which owns the recreation center building.
The addition would be tucked into a corner between the current fitness room and the outdoor wall of the swimming pool on the front of the building. It would be built so that it could be expanded further in the future, said architect Bob Arnold.
Wright said the addition would be available to both the community and to students during their physical education classes.
“I think it’s a good benefit for everyone, not just the community, but also for the school district,” he said.
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