Slated to open at the end of February, the Silver Spring Aquatic and Recreation Center will be an urban oasis in the new Elizabeth Square community. Montgomery County Administrator Marc Elrich visited the facility for the first time in September 2023 and called the experience “incredible. “
SILVER SPRING, Md. —Nestled between three high-rise apartment buildings at the end of Apple Avenue and along Fenwick Street, just behind the courthouse and up the hill from the railroad tracks, in a cozy corner of downtown, Silver Spring is the place to be. he.
The new South County Regional Aquatic and Recreation Center in Elizabeth Square will be an unprecedented urban oasis featuring pools, hot tubs, a fitness center, multipurpose rooms, a kitchen and a state-of-the-art fitness clinic. This has never been built in the county, and citizens like Don Braverman, 90, Izola Ancar, 84, and Stan Starr, 68, can’t wait for it to open.
Ancar, Braverman, and Starr, live in The Leggett, a newly built income-restricted apartment building for senior citizens over the age of 62. Opening The Leggett on May 4 was phase one of the Housing Opportunities Commission’s intricate plan to transform this pocket of the city.
Ms. Ancar moved into the building in June 2023. When he came to check it out, he said a representative from the rental office told him about the aquatic and recreational center.
“There’s each and every one of them,” he said. I love swimming and my knees don’t feel right, but they have a heated pool. It is ok. I’ll use the pool every day. “
On days when it’s hot and not too windy, Ms. Ancar sits outdoors in the Alexander House building next to the Leggett. She likes other people to watch and enjoy with her friend Cheryl Bigham.
Cheryl Bigham (left) and her friend Izola Ancar (right) in front of Alexander House, one of three residential buildings in the new Elizabeth Square.
With the sound of cars racing down the roads ahead of them, hammers pounding on nails, strength equipment whizzing by, and trains rumbling on the tracks, Ms. Ancar and Ms. Bigham feel dizzy when they talk about the future of the neighborhood.
Ms Bigham, 62, says she has lived on the fourth floor of Alexander House since 2022.
“When they showed me my unit, they showed me the pool they were building,” he recalled. “They said it for the residents. ” (At the time, I wasn’t sure everyone was allowed in. )
From your balcony you see and hear developers running around at the aquatic and recreational center. But the noise doesn’t bother her. When he walks in, he doesn’t hear much because his windows are insulated.
Mrs. Bigham is looking for the treadmill when the recreation center opens.
“Water aerobics is for our joints,” he said.
Mr. Braverman wound up at The Leggett after his son suggested he downsize from the single-family house he’d spent years at, to an apartment in Silver Spring. He wasn’t sure he could live in a small unit, but he says the staff has been “incredible.”
Due to the condition of his knees and lack of balance, Mr. Braverman says he can’t ride a motorcycle like he used to, so he’s looking for his motorcycle at the desk at the new recreation center.
“You can’t open it soon enough,” he said. I’ve been in high school here, but unfortunately the motorcycle is rarely the one I want or want. That’s why I want it to open up. “
Holy Cross Health is located on Leggett’s second lot and is connected to the Silver Spring Aquatic and Recreation Center. For now, all patients will need to enter through The Leggett.
Braverman also said he’s been seeing the head doctor who will treat patients at Holy Cross Health Partners [an elevator upstairs] for more than a year.
The County Recreation Department and Holy Cross Health hosted a data gathering for the citizens of The Leggett in August 2023.
Other tenants, like Starr, feel that “it’s taking too long!”
“We heard the date changes,” he said during a county-sponsored information session at the Silver Spring Aquatic and Recreation Center, hosted in particular for the citizens of The Leggett.
Initially, it was advertised that the building would be open by June 2023, but the county now says no one will be lifting a weight or taking a dip until late February.
“Generally speaking, it’s a wonderful idea, but we get lost in the details,” Starr said.
Stan Starr, 68, sits in his apartment on the grounds of the Leggett.
Among his gripes, the self-proclaimed “Mayor of The Leggett” believes that Costello, the construction company tasked with building the rec center, parks their cars along Apple Avenue leading to the cul-de-sac where his building and the SSRAC are located.
“The carpets are in ruins because those other people didn’t need to put tarps to cover the carpet, so they hunt them down, and now this beautiful carpet is in ruins,” he said. “The chimney alarm. . . I was told they were cutting off the chimney alarm because the structure of the pool was generating dust. But what if there’s a genuine fireplace?
Starr walked out of construction at Arrive Silver Spring on Georgia Avenue months after a woman died in an eleventh-floor fire. Despite his concerns, he said he liked his new unit and was “happy” to have moved in.
The Leggett’s door mat in September 2023.
Dulce Flores is the community leader/resident of Leggett.
She says she and her staff communicate to tenants about SSRAC on a basis and let them know how convenient its use will be.
“All they have to do is take the elevator. They don’t want to drive,” he said. They usually have to wait for members of their family circle. Now they can simply move on to the second floor. There are other people. “who are swimmers and, right now, are moving on to other recreational centers. “
“It’s a great addition just for residents, but also for the entire zip code,” Flores added. “Employees will benefit. We’re all excited about it. “
Dulce Flores is the community leader/resident of Leggett.
Flores waits for more at his door.
“It will bring attention to our community. But we like to be seen,” he said. “The older people are uncles and grandmothers, and it’s smart to know we’re here. It’ll be smart for us. “
A short walk from Leggett and right next to SSRAC, the county’s first public housing construction is still standing. More or less.
Elizabeth House, the oldest public housing construction in the county, will be completely demolished in the coming months.
The Isabel House is empty. The 194 senior citizens have moved, and while some have moved to The Leggett, others have had to find housing elsewhere. A sign on the old doors indicates that the assets contain asbestos.
What remains is the hull of a construction that still leaves decades of flow.
Chelsea Andrews is the executive director of the County Housing Opportunity Commission (HOC). He said the 10-story building that has housed Silver Springs citizens since 1966 has “outlived its lifespan. “It will be completely demolished in the coming months.
Recent changes in public housing allow agencies such as HOC to leverage private financing and other affordable housing subsidies to serve the same families and individuals in a financially sustainable business model. The final phase of the Elizabeth Square development involves replacing The Elizabeth House with a new mixed-use, mixed-income building in its place.
In the meantime, a transient plaza will be created in front of the Aquatic and Recreational Center.
Architectural rendering showing one of the entrances to Elizabeth Square. Photo via Montgomery County Recreation Department.
“We are thrilled to bring new life to Silver Spring’s Downtown North neighborhood, new amenities to serve the entire network, and new opportunities for all families to enjoy this prime location right next to the metro,” Andrews said in a statement. « HOC is incredibly proud to be part of a cutting-edge partnership with the county government and Lee Development Group to create Elizabeth Square, an exciting new destination in Silver Spring offering affordable housing located alongside incredible advertising and network services.
Between The Leggett, The Alexander House and the new state-of-the-art Elizabeth House, there will be a total of 908 residential units. HOC also operates the Holy Cross Primary Care Center, however, Andrews believes the service that so many citizens will gain advantages from for decades to come is the Recreation Department’s new “world-class” South County Regional Aquatic and Recreation Center.
Architectural rendering showing the courtyard and main entrance to Elizabeth Square once the entire project is complete. Photo via Montgomery Country Recreation Department.
Construction of the colossal and highly anticipated Silver Spring Hybrid Aquatic and Recreation Center began in October 2019.
The concept for the task was a partnership developed two years earlier between HOC and Gabe Albernoz, then the County’s Director of Recreation.
“They were going to come with some kind of recreational apparatus for the citizens of this subdivision and he thought it was an opportunity for something bigger, and so he called me,” recalls David Dise, director of the county’s Department of General Services. We thought, ‘yes, that’s a wonderful idea. Since then, we’ve been working with HOC and the County Recreation Department to explore what it could be. “
Construction of the exterior of the facility in June 2023.
The county’s resolution to marry HOC allowed them to tap into an asset that is already going to be used. Building the Aquatic and Recreation Center without the details of the housing would have been more expensive and complicated since there aren’t many other giant masses in Silver’s central business district of Spring.
“I think it’s an opportunity, a task and interests that evolve at the same time. So the synergy of doing it here exposed us to this opportunity,” Dese explained. “The good thing is that all the partners involved have noticed the benefits. It’s been a wonderful environment for cooperation. “
KDG Architecture contracted through HOC to expand plans to fill the 120,000 gross square feet of public recreation space. When it came time to begin construction, Dise turned to Lee Development Group, expanders who built Fillmore Silver Spring, the Veteran’s Plaza civic building, and the county’s first library and recreation center in Wheaton.
“We’ve built some signature facilities in other parts of the county and this is the kind of facility we would like to build in other places, so it’s great to see that it’s a combination; it’s a tri-service building,” said Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich, who has followed this project since it was first proposed. He was a member of the county council at the time and recalled there being a lot of excitement about partnering with HOC.
An employee at the Costello structure (right) shows the pool to County Manager March Elrich (left) and David Dise (center) during a stopover in September 2023.
On his first visit to the building in late September 2023, Elrich said what he saw was “impressive.”
“To be inside of this and see what they’ve done is quite remarkable and you realize the magnitude of the demanding situations that arise in this build in terms of what you’re supporting as a residential tower. . . How they organized it. It’s all just. . . just beautiful,” Elrich said.
“It’s a senior center, it’s an aquatic center, and there are recreational activities, classrooms, and an advertising kitchen that can be used for training. So it’s a complete package that can be used for many other services,” he said. he continued.
Robin Riley is the county’s recreation director. She oversees 22 other recreation centers across the county and has been instrumental in advancing this ambitious project.
An internal wall of the SSRAC presents the characteristics and spaces of the floor.
The SSRAC will be MoCo’s first regional hub, and according to Riley, it’s filled with endless opportunities.
“While it will serve seniors [above us] if you look around, there’s tons of other residents that we serve here and it’s accessible by Metro and to lots of downtown businesses that can come here before work and after work,” Riley said during a recent tour of the space. “We’re excited about the opportunity to do something in a more urban environment that we’ve never done before.”
So far, it has hired nine full-time workers and hopes to fill several seasonal positions soon.
The first site of the facility will feature multi-use activity rooms, a public use domain and social domains.
On the floor there is a gym where citizens can play basketball, badminton, volleyball and, of course, pickleball.
The exercise and weight room, in addition to the movement and dance studios with mood lighting for ballet and Zumba, are also on Level 2. There’s a culinary arts kitchen where Riley says cooking classes will take place and seniors can learn to fix quick and easy meals. Each room is equipped with very specific applications for the community to use.
The biggest attraction that will surprise and sponsor to the fullest is the dominance of water on the lower level.
A view of the Olympic-sized pool inside the Silver Spring Recreation and Aquatic Center. Photo via Montgomery County Recreation Department.
With a total of 14,500 feet of water surface in the 26,500-foot natatorium area, the area includes a pool for diving and swimming festivals, a warmer temperature recreational pool, a recreational pool, and two spas.
High school competitions will be held in the Olympic-sized pool, and as the host of the Maryland Senior Olympics in 2023, the county hoped to have the area available for some aquatic events.
The recreational pool features a variety of fun aquatic details, adding a slide domain with a raised rock platform and a six-inch-deep children’s lagoon with splash pads. In addition, integrated evaporative drains draw all air out of surface water, minimizing chlorine. that the entire facility may not have that indoor pool smell.
Photo courtesy of the County Recreation Department
The locker rooms in the cottage are another unique design feature. Due to new county legislation requiring family locker rooms and non-binary restrooms for the first time, the county placed the cabins, in addition to the men’s and women’s locker rooms, in a recreation center.
To make everything more sensible, there is also a green roof in the installation.
It’s an environmental design detail that minimizes the center’s heat island, thereby expanding the amount of water captured and restricting the amount of stormwater runoff.
One of the elements that has been taken into account when designing the area is the effort to minimise the noise of exercise in the rooms of the building. Sound monitors have been placed in all exercise-oriented apartments to ensure no outside noise enters.
The windows are triple-glazed and feature an additional layer of glass.
The walls are soundproofed. Therefore, if a noisy basketball tournament is taking place, it will probably not spread to the rest of the rooms.
Soon, they will be adorned with photographs, plaques and memorabilia of some of the area’s greatest athletes as the facility becomes the new home of the County Sports Hall of Fame.
“We know the pool and gym will be places for active sports, so it’s an herbal option,” Riley said.
Architectural rendering of the bronze statue of Dominique Dawes to be placed at the SSRAC.
A bronze statue of one of the most prominent members will be placed at the entrance, as a symbol to the citizens of what they too can achieve.
“Dominique Dawes is a resident of the City of Takoma Park and is indeed a hallmark of the county,” Riley said. “She’s really worried about the construction of all of this. We hope he comes here and gives categories as well. “
What happens when you open up a top-tier recreation and aquatic center in one of the most diverse cities in America?
A recent study by WalletHub ranks Silver Spring first in socioeconomic diversity and fourth in cultural diversity. Census data shows the city’s makeup is 39. 1 percent White, 29. 3 percent African American, 24. 6 percent Hispanic, 6. 8 percent two or more ethnicities. and 7. 9 percent Asian, meaning the multicultural faces that will fill the halls of SSRAC could look like a living mosaic, embodying a combination of horizons.
Just over 23. 1% of the population is under the age of 18, while 11. 7% of citizens are at least 65 years old. And the median family wage in the region is $91,970.
County Director Marc Elrich thinks this is smart to do.
“I think it’s going to help this network feel like they’re taking advantage of the kind of services that serve a diverse population at a point they don’t feel like they’re seeing,” she said. “I think population mixes are wonderful civilizing forces. A lot of times other people don’t know each other, but when you combine and share spaces, I think it has an effect. . . Bring other people together in combination and interact with each other. It helps create some kind of common bond and some form of understanding between all the people you deal with in this county. “
Offering systems to a wide variety of people may seem like a challenge, but Carmen Berrios, manager of the County Recreation Department, says the team is excited to get started.
A virtual signal will demonstrate messages in front of the SSRAC.
Six days a week, there’ll be activities to help the seniors who frequent the facility stay active and fit. There will be aquatic cycling, aqua yoga, general swimming lessons and all kinds of bonus classes, Berrios says, that will be held in the water. On land, a vast array of classes from Zumba to Tai chi, Bikram yoga, arts and crafts, all kinds of dances and lots more in between will be offered for every member of the family.
“We need to have a robust and active facility, so we need to make sure we’re providing the systems that our network needs; especially for the seniors who will be living here with us, we need to make sure that we’re providing programming that they can take advantage of,” Berrios said. “Montgomery County is a melting pot of cultures. This is what makes us such a glorious position to work in. This is the diversity of our network, so our network hub will be no different. We’ll be varied in both age teams and as well. “
Berrios was tasked with gathering feedback from neighboring neighborhoods and selling the online survey that is helping the county tailor its programming to long-term users.
In March 2023, Berrios, Riley and a few other members of the recreation branch asked local teens to talk about their interests and what they wanted to see within the SSRAC by handing out loose pizzas and other snacks at a youth outreach event in Wheaton. The county says it sought to make sure they were in contact with children and included activities that interested them.
In the work sessions, the teens were candid and said they were looking for a game room, phone charging stations, a selfie wall, a McDonald’s, escape rooms, scooters, essay writing, anime, cash management, and K-POP dance classes, as well as SATs. /ACT Classes. They were also looking for activities such as boxing, sword fighting, archery, mini golf, bumper cars, crochet, darts, karaoke, and laser tag, among other ideas.
“It was an important meeting for us to make sure we heard their voice,” Riley said. “We know that young people have a voice and if they have a choice they’ll come.”
In March 2023, Montgomery County Recreation staff engaged with teens to gather their input and ideas for the SSRAC.
The youth progression team, which Riley says is “dynamic” in top schools, middle schools, and elementary schools, has the difficult task of motivating young people to engage in positive activities that will allow them to stay out of trouble.
With youth violence on the rise and youth intellectual fitness issues across the country and county, the Department of Recreation hopes the SSRAC will be an area for teens.
From 2017 to 2022, violent crime accumulation increased up to 40% in downtown Silver Spring, according to the county’s crime database. Montgomery County Police Chief Marcus Jones announced in December 2023 that between FY22 and FY23, arrests of youth ages 17 and younger for violent crimes increased by up to 329%. The county’s fitness director said at the time that the silver lining was that violent crimes committed among teenagers had declined since the sharp rise in 2021 and were now near pre-pandemic levels. Chief Jones also talked about how teenagers are more likely to be victims than criminals. He added that the impression that criminals are getting younger is true and that among 12- to 17-year-olds, statistics show that the greatest accumulation of violent crimes occurs among 15-year-olds. -old.
The county Police Department also reported a 120% increase in youth overdose deaths between 2021 and 2022. Department data shows that two years ago there were five fatal overdoses among youth ages 17 and older, compared to 11 deaths in 2022.
“We need them to come here,” he said, Riley. No we need them to pile up in the square, on Elm Street or in Ellsworth. We need them [at SSRAC] to participate in an activity that they will love and stay connected to. “
Architectural rendering of the SSRAC, showing the rearview of the facility from Fenwick Lane once the new Elizabeth House is constructed. Photo via Montgomery County Recreation Department.
The department agrees.
“That’s surely part of the answer,” Elrich said. We want places for young people to hang out and activities that engage them. This is one of the benefits of this establishment. You can find a lot of things to do and I hope that many children will come here and be among them. Adults who moderate intelligent behavior and learn.
The goal is for the aquatic and recreational center to be completed by February 24. Elrich pointed out that delays in the origin chain are the main waiting factor.
“I don’t feel too bad about the length of time of the delay given the complexity of the project,” he said.
At this point, it is too early to attempt to quantify the effect the Silver Spring Aquatic and Recreation Center will have on this colorful community. But when the last brick is laid and the paint dries on the walls; when all the developers are past and the seniors are dressed and fit to sweat; When the kids are passed out after school and the pool tiles aren’t raining yet, they have a position to pass by.
It’s between three high-rise apartment buildings at the end of Apple Avenue and on the edge of Fenwick Street, right behind the courthouse and up the hill from the train tracks in a cozy corner of downtown Silver Spring. That’s where they’ll find what they’re looking for.
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