GSBS to begin work on new Burleson recreation center

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By ELIZABETH CAMPBELL
liz@star-telegram.com

BURLESON — Residents can look forward to a recreation center at Bartlett Park featuring indoor pools, a fitness center, soccer fields and a jogging track.

The City Council last week approved the $17.4 million price tag for the center. The city is working with Hill & Wilkinson, a firm that has built similar centers, spokeswoman Sally Ellertson said. If costs run higher than the agreed-upon price, the company would be responsible unless the city authorizes changes to the construction plan.

Parks and Recreation Director Peter Krause said construction should begin next week, and he estimated that it will be completed in March 2010.

"This has been a long time coming," Krause said.

The two-story, 65,000-square-foot recreation center, on 34 acres, will include meeting rooms, an indoor pool, a five-lane lap pool, a fitness center, gymnasiums and an elevated jogging track. The site will also include an outdoor pool and soccer fields.

The Burleson school district will share the cost of the lap pool so the Burleson High swim team can practice there. Funds will come from certificates of obligation financed by sales tax revenue, Krause said.

The council has hired the architecture firm GSBS to provide design and construction cost estimates for the Bartlett Park soccer fields. The city will use $2.94 million from a 2007 bond package to pay for the fields.

The city also plans to build a fire station in southwest Burleson on Lakewood Drive north of Texas 174. Council members approved an agreement with the construction management firm Modern Contractors to build the station, the city’s third, at a maximum price of $2.2 million. The new station should be finished by next summer.