Crossville Breaks Ground On New Recreation Center

The City of Crossville broke ground on the new $34.8 million recreation center Thursday.

Crossville Mayor RJ Crawford said the recreation center has been a long time coming as the city has had discussions about building an indoor recreation center since 2008. Crawford said the recreation center will be a representation of the city.

“This building is symbolic of where Crossville is going,” Crawford said. “We got a beautiful building. It is going to offer a lot of program amenities and things that are needed, but I think we are going to look back here and we are going to be very proud of what we are doing not only as those of you that are here but for the families that are starving for something like this as well as future economic growth and development.”

Crawford said when he took office as mayor that the idea of a recreation center was going to be built or killed during his tenure. Crawford said the city has done everything possible to be financially responsible to finally bring a recreation center to Crossville.

“The nice thing about going through the sports authority is it’s all from consumption tax,” Crawford said. “We are very fortunate to have a lot of businesses come down that offer us more sales tax and sales tax will be the driving factor to pay down the debt and so that is exciting.”

Putnam YMCA CEO Mandy Perhay said the recreation center is more than just fitness and sports.

“It is at its very core about people,” Perhay said. “It’s about youth development, helping families thrive and grow together, a sense of belonging and I have no doubt that this YMCA will become the heart of the Crossville Community.”

Perhay said it took a lot of work to get to this point. Perhay said it was a team effort to make the recreation center a reality.

“There’s nothing more special in the community when business leaders, nonprofit leaders, city council members, the police chief, the fire chief, you name it like we have all worked together over the past two years to make this day happen,” Perhay said. “It’s wonderful when all of those people say no one cares about me we all care about we and that has been true over the past two years in Crossville.”

Crawford gave a key to the city to One Bank as they are taking on the first $5 million of the city’s debt service. Crawford said it was a big step as they showed they believed in the community and city to get the project done.

The recreation center will be located across the City Hall on North Main Street.