$7.7 Million Joliet Park District Facility Nears Grand Opening

JOLIET, IL - The Joliet Park District's $7.7 million indoor recreation facility on Mills Road is almost ready to open. At 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 20, park district officials will hold a ribbon-cutting event and offer tours to guests at the new Nowell Park Recreation Center. The special event will last until 4 p.m.

Next Sunday, Nowell Park officially opens to guests on Oct. 21. The facility will be open seven days a week. Hours of operation are 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Brad Staab, deputy director for Joliet Park District, said the grand opening of the Nowell Park Recreation Center is huge event, especially for the city's east side.

"It's kind of an under-served community for us," Staab told Joliet Patch on Thursday afternoon. "We want people to know it is a family-friendly, safe environment for you to come, and it's affordable."

Nowell Park Recreation Center offers the following features:

• Fitness center with top of the line equipment, identical to Inwood.
• Two full-size courts for basketball, volleyball and pickle ball games.
• Indoor walking track, 12 laps to a mile.
• Community rooms
• Early childhood program room

Even though Nowell Park hasn't opened yet, there's no shortage of area residents pulling into the parking lot and asking the park district for a chance to see the inside.

"It's actually more impressive than we were hoping," Staab said. "It's great. Now, we're going to try to ge the community to use the facility. We've had people stopping in all week."

Besides Joliet, Staab is aiming to draw in residents from Elwood and Manhattan, he said.

Images via John Ferak/Joliet Patch Editor