Wick Recreation Center Reopens to Public after $1.5M Makeover

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – After receiving a $1.5 million makeover, the Wick Recreation Center building in Mill Creek Park has reopened and will serve the public for the first time in about two decades.

The building, constructed in 1961, is in the park’s popular Wick Recreation Area on the West Side. The area is also the home of Morley Pavilion for performing arts, a par-3 golf course, a splash pad, batting cages, tennis courts, sand volleyball courts, soccer and baseball fields, a children’s playground and a sled riding hill.

The building was formerly the warming house for the ice rink that was once behind it. The rink closed in 2010 and has since been replaced by a Dek hockey rink that gets a lot of use, according to Jamie Yohman, the park’s spokeswoman.

The new Wick Recreation Center building “is another prime example of what we can offer the public on a regional scale,” said Justin Rogers, director of planning and operations for Mill Creek Park, at a ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday morning. “We have always promoted Wick Recreation Area as our regionally significant active-recreation space, and this building will serve as its hub and support all activities that go on here.”

The building now “mirrors and matches” other park buildings, Rogers said.

The renovation of the Wick Recreation Center building took two years, with the work done by Declan Construction of Brookfield. The project was funded entirely through Mill Creek MetroParks’ general fund.

The building has several new features that cater to the public:

• A pro shop that sells and rents equipment for golf, hockey and other games that can be played in the park. It also sells the park system’s licensed apparel.

• A snack bar, with sales windows that face both an interior hallway and an outdoor covered patio. An outside company will be contracted by the park to operate the snack bar, which will offer pizza, hot dogs, beverages and other items.

• A banquet room that can be rented for parties. The room’s signature features are a fireplace and a wall of windows that overlook the hockey rink.

The building also has rest rooms for the public and park administrative offices.

The structure had been closed to the public since the early 2000s and used mainly for storage, Yohman said.

The Wick Recreation Center building is the second upgrade of an existing structure in the park in as many years. The Ford Nature Center reopened in 2023 after a three-year, $4 million renovation.

The park last year also opened a new indoor golf player development center with digital simulators.

Pictured at top: Aaron Young, executive director of Mill Creek MetroParks, center, and other park officials take part in a ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday at the Wick Recreation Center.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.