Aurora’s Moorhead Rec Center closing for yearlong renovation

AURORA | The decades-old Moorhead Recreation Center in Original Aurora will finally be getting a bigger gymnasium and an indoor running track as part of a $13-million renovation plan.

But first, it has to close for about a year.

Starting Jan. 15, Aurora’s 44-year-old rec center will be closed for construction to expand the center from around 5,000 square feet to almost 26,000 square feet. New locker rooms, a community kitchen, a teen center and updates to the pool are among the renovations planned for the center. 

“We’ll be much better able to serve the community,” said Brent Delehoy, a superintendent of centers and fitness, parks, recreation and open space for the city. Delehoy said Moorhead, which is located directly across from Fletcher Community School, sees 50 kids a day on an average weekday once school lets out in the afternoon.

In the meantime programs held at Moorhead are being moved across the street to Fletcher. Students in kindergarten through fifth grade will still be able to take part in after-school programs originally held at Moorhead from 2:45 p.m. to 6 p.m. while the rec center is under construction.

Fletcher will also be opening up its gymnasium to students in sixth through 12th grade from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays during construction.

One of the biggest improvements being made to the center is the expansion of the gym to high-school size, said Sherri-Jo Stowell, a spokeswoman for the city’s Parks, Recreation and Open Space department. The gym will also include a running track around its perimeter. 

Right now Moorhead is composed of a small gymnasium, meeting rooms, a small outdoor lap pool and a kitchen that shares space with workout equipment.

Delehoy said the most welcome additions for the surrounding neighborhood will be the separation of the fitness room from the kitchen, and the ability for the center to expand its popular cooking classes.

Last year, Barker Rinker Seacat Architecture was selected through a competitive bidding process to redesign the recreation center. The Denver-based firm is also responsible for the design of the city’s future multi-million-dollar fire and police training facility.

Plans for updating Moorhead have been pared down since renovations were first proposed. City officials initially looked at enclosing the existing outdoor swimming pool, but Barker Rinker Seacat Architecture estimated that costs would soar to $18 million. Stowell said official renovations being made to the pool will be finalized when the city selects a contractor for the project later this month.

Moorhead will become the second full-service recreation center in the city when the improvements are made. City officials expect it to reopen sometime in the spring of 2017.

Aurora’s recreation centers have a reputation for being outdated and inadequate for a city of nearly 350,000. The city has five recreation centers, with one specifically for youth. Beck Recreation Center is the only full-service facility in Aurora. It is also the largest at around 57,000 square feet. It went through a $7.5-million remodel in 2012 that took the city almost a decade to fund.

That cannot be said of Meadowood or Expo recreation centers, which were all built in 1975. Those rec centers have received minimal improvements.

Aurora City Council approved using part of its $324-million budget in 2016 to build a new recreation center for the southeast part of the city.

Moorhead’s fitness classes and boxing classes will still be offered throughout the week while Moorhead is under construction. Call 303-326-8315 for details.