A rendering of the new Foster City recreation center at Leo J. Ryan Park.
Foster City’s new recreation center is more than halfway complete, despite concerns whether heavy rainfall this past month would delay construction.
The center has been closed to the public since the end of last year to prepare for construction and demolition of the building, with groundbreaking beginning almost a year ago.
The milestone is an important step for many residents, especially given the multi-year lead-up to the project.
“We're estimating that the project is about 65% complete with construction so things are going pretty well,” Parks and Recreation Director Derek Schweigart said.
Talks to get rid of the old center, built in 1974 in Leo J. Ryan Park, ramped up around 2016, largely motivated by structural deficiencies, especially related to water leakage, as well as outdated emergency shelter accommodations. However, the process was punctuated by budgetary and pandemic-related delays. A projected long-term structural deficit had given several elected officials pause on whether to move ahead on the project. Some councilmembers had previously floated ideas for a bond measure or other financing mechanisms to fund the project in light of fiscal concerns but ultimately voted to move forward on the project as originally planned.
While the city scaled back on some of its prior upgrades, the center will include, among other amenities, updated playgrounds and more room rentals, which is a primary source of revenue for the facility.
At the end of last year and beginning of this year, the area experienced heavy rainfall, which raised concern from city officials over whether that would delay construction. While the weather hasn’t affected the timeline, there has been some slowdown as more trades are “working on top of one another” in a smaller space and requiring more coordination, Schweigart said.
“We are aligned currently with our schedule even with all the rains we had in January,” he added. “Up to this point, we had gained time on our schedule and things were looking ahead of schedule, and now it’s starting to eat up that time, so we’re really going to pay close attention to that.”
Construction is expected to be completed by this summer.
(650) 344-5200 ext. 102
(650) 344-5200 ext. 102
Daily Journal staff
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