Groundbreaking Ceremony Held for Good Hope Neighborhood Recreation Center

For Immediate Release: Saturday, December 10, 2016

Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett joined the community today to celebrate the groundbreaking for the Good Hope Neighborhood Recreation Center. The facility is located at 14715 Good Hope Road in Silver Spring.

Joining Leggett were County Council President Roger Berliner, County Councilmember Nancy Floreen, Department of Recreation Director Gabe Albornoz and Department of General Services Director David Dise.

Other participants included Michael F. Riley, director of the Montgomery County Department of Parks, part of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission;Eliot Pfanstiehl, CEO, Strathmore Hall Foundation, Inc.; and representatives from Action in Montgomery.

“I am pleased to celebrate the groundbreaking for the Good Hope Neighborhood Recreation Center,” said Leggett. “In the past ten years despite difficult economic conditions, we have opened 49 new County facilities, more than in the 12 years before I took office when the economy was booming. This will mark the ninth recreation facility project that has been built or renovated in the past nine years.”

“The Good Hope Neighborhood is finally getting what it deserves – a state-of-the-art recreation center to anchor the community for decades to come.  Once built, this facility will serve as an ideal venue for activities and creative programming for adults and children alike.  I could not be more pleased to join you in celebrating this milestone today,” said Berliner.

The new 14,000-square-foot building will be more than twice the size of the original structure, vastly increasing capacity and making it more useful to the community. The new building will be located at the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission’s Good Hope Park on the site of the existing parking lot.  The new parking lot will be built on the site of the old building after it is demolished. The new lot will be closer to the tennis courts and ballfields.

The building is being replaced because key building systems such as the structural system, exterior walls, elevators, roof, HVAC and electrical system have surpassed their useful service life and it does not meet Americans with Disabilities Act standards.

“Recreation and parks programs and facilities are one of the things that make Montgomery County such a great place to live,” said Floreen. “This is a necessary project and I know our Department of General Services will do good work to build a first-rate facility that will benefit our residents. I know that the Good Hope community has been advocating for a new facility for a long time, and I couldn’t be more pleased that we’re able to make it happen.”

The cost of the center is approximately $7,750,000. The architect is Sorg Architects. The construction company is Keller Brothers Construction.  The facility is scheduled to open in the summer of 2018.

 

For more information, go to http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/DGS-BDC/EMC/720918.html

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Release ID: 16-439
Media Contact: Judy Stiles 240-777-6507