denver getting ready to build new recreation center

The City of Denver has issued a Request for Qualifications for the design of a long-anticipated recreation center on the southwest side of the city.

According to city documents, the 40,000 square foot Westwood Recreation Center will go up at a just under 3-acre site located at 4320 Morrison Road.

The center, designed to service the residents of the city’s mostly Hispanic and working class Westwood neighborhood, will include a gymnasium and fitness center, as well as indoor aquatics facilities and space for cardio activities and weights.

The facility will additionally house offices, several community meeting rooms, dressing rooms, and a full service kitchen.

Forecast to cost $37 million, construction of the center will be paid for out of the $937 million Elevate Denver general obligation bonds approved by city voters in 2017.

Last summer, Denver purchased the needed land for the project at a cost of $5.4 million.

At that time Mayor Michael Hancock characterized the purchase as delivering on a “promise we made to the Westwood residents with the Elevate Denver bonds to provide a new state-of-the-art recreation center right in the heart of their community.”
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The design and community input process for the project will continue into next year, with construction expected to begin in 2022.
Submission deadline for the RFQ is October 8.

​By Garry Boulard

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