Fairfax County leaders joined hundreds of local residents for a variety of festivities celebrating the reopened Mount Vernon Recreation Center on Saturday (Nov. 15).
“We’ve waited long, we’ve suffered long,” Mount Vernon District Supervisor Dan Storck said at the grand reopening, noting that more than two and a half years had elapsed since the facility at 2017 Belle View Blvd closed for renovation and expansion.
The rebuilt facility represents “the core of what Mount Vernon has been and what it’s becoming,” Storck said at the dedication ceremony.
It also provides an opportunity for residents both locally and across the county to focus on staying healthy, the supervisor said.
“Health and fitness matter,” Storck said, adding that “this is the place to do it.”
As public officials spoke outside, individuals and families were swarming throughout the 139,000-square-foot building. Its amenities include two National Hockey League-size ice rinks, a fitness center with indoor track, pool with beach entry and two-story rock-climbing wall.
The original Mount Vernon Recreation Center was constructed in the 1970s, with its single ice rink for a time serving as the practice facility of the Washington Capitals. It also was the rink on which a young Jeff McKay, now chair of the Board of Supervisors, learned to skate.
“There were times we didn’t think this day would get here,” McKay said at the dedication ceremony, referencing the nearly 20-year effort to get the project approved, funded and ultimately completed.
The expansion, which added 72,000 square feet to the overall facility, was funded through park-bond referendums approved by voters in 2008, 2016 and 2020.
“The voters of Fairfax County strongly believe in their parks, their infrastructure,” McKay said.
He advised attendees who hadn’t yet been inside the facility to “prepare to be dazzled.”
Fairfax County Park Authority Director Jai Cole said staff members refer to the facility as “the house that Covid built.” Planned before the pandemic, construction work on the $72 million project didn’t start until 2023 after costs had ballooned and trade-offs had to be made, she said.
Despite the challenges, the result is a space that will serve those from the immediate surroundings and well beyond, Cole said.
“This is a regional facility,” she said.
While the Mount Vernon facility was out of commission during construction, residents were able to use the park authority’s eight other recreation centers.
In his remarks, McKay noted the Park Authority had been established 75 years ago — in 1950 — with a modest $250 appropriation by the Board of Supervisors.
“That’s where it all began,” he said. “Look at where it’s come — first-class parks, first-class facilities.”
Forrester Construction Co. was responsible for building the new facility. Amenities within the center have been opening since the summer as work was completed and staffing was in place.
Among those using the facility’s amenities in the intervening months has been Storck. He’s worked out in the fitness room, has done laps on the track and has swum in the pool.
One activity remains, he said.
“I haven’t quite climbed the wall yet, but it is definitely something I will do,” Storck said.
