Future of Recreation Centers

Project Overview

This project is meant to inspire and capture the community’s vision for city recreation centers long into the future, while helping to prioritize limited resources. The cumulation of community engagement, policy and research has resulted in a completed Recreation Centers Needs Assessment.

The project’s focus is currently shifting toward the city-wide Long-Term Financial Strategy. This shift in focus will help the city determine what projects the community would like to see funded and how they should be funded. This information is ultimately needed to understand community priorities and to determine future project budgets. Get involved in the conversation through the Fund Our Future engagement. The funding projects will help inform future funding levels, community services and building investments.

Para recibir más información en español, llame al 303-413-7200 x9.

Project Background

Boulder’s system of three publicly accessible recreation centers reflects our community’s long-held values and support for health, wellness, and fitness. This project is solely focused on indoor recreation and older adult services provided at all 3 recreation center sites. It does not include outdoor recreation in adjacent or other outdoor spaces. These centers exist within a range of other recreation facilities in the city, including private gyms, Boulder Valley School District (BVSD) facilities, and University of Colorado (CU) facilities.

City recreation center buildings are nearing the end of their lifecycle and are using high amounts of energy, water (i.e., pool leaks), gas, and other limited resources including those related to increased maintenance needs. To meet citywide climate goals, reductions in energy and water use must be made. The city’s consultant team on the project – Perkins & Will – includes professionals from across several disciplines such as mechanical engineering, structural engineering, electrical engineering and aquatics. This team reviewed all past assessments of city recreation facilities and completed an updated Building Condition Assessment (archival material) in late 2024. Addressing these issues requires costly physical improvements. However, city budgets are constrained. Public engagement, data, funding and city policies will guide the city’s strategic and phased approach to making improvements at each center over the next 10+ years.

Thank you for your support as we plan for the future of Boulder’s recreation centers. We are committed to engaging our community regarding these long-term decisions. Please engage, through the Fund Our Future engagement, and let your voice shape your city services.

Project Updates

There are currently no meaningful updates to report on scheduled investments at the North Boulder Recreation Center (NBRC).

The East Boulder Community Center (EBCC) building is one of the city’s top energy users and an ideal candidate for a retrofit. The mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems are outdated and not energy-efficient, but the building's structure is sound, making a retrofit a prime opportunity to reduce energy consumption and refresh the space.

This deep energy retrofit project involves updating these systems with modern, efficient ones and improving the building's energy efficiency. This will reduce energy consumption and enhance the building’s performance.

This project has $53 million of funding identified through the Community, Culture, Resilience, and Safety (CCRS) tax, a 0.3% dedicated sales and use tax for citywide infrastructure needs. This funding is first being prioritized to meet energy efficiency goals. A first phase of construction is estimated to start at the EBCC, which includes the East Age Well Center, in January of 2027 and will focus on the most critical system updates, including air handling units, roof and envelope improvements. Recreation Center operations for the recreation wing of the building will continue as normal during the majority of the first phase in construction.

East Age Well Center is likely to experience both facility and service impacts during the first phase of construction, scheduled to begin in January 2027. Plans for relocating services and programs during construction will be shared in late 2026.

City recreation facilities are ageing and in need of investment or replacement. Due to the age and condition of SBRC, City Council accepted the 2021 Facilities Plan and 2022 BPR Plan [link], both of which confirmed that SBRC has reached the end of its lifecycle. The level of service we can provide at the South Boulder Recreation Center may decrease as parts of the building fail. We will continue to evaluate the building and keep it operating as long as is feasible.

In 2025, the city identified funding for extensive building improvements to help support operations until long-term plans can be made. These investments, including improvements to the pool area, air handling units, and electrical infrastructure, support the city's ability to promote health and well-being while long-term decisions are made.

Want to provide input on what and how the city funds future services? Check out the city's Fund Our Future webpage.