The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
$83 million is just a ‘high level’ estimate
By Mark Reaman
The official presentation of the Gunnison County MetRec district conceptual master plan was brought to the public in a work session on Wednesday, October 30 and as expected the emphasis was on a potential recreation center for the North Valley. Other items in the plan written by consultant Norris Design included an expansion of the current Gunnison Rec Center, providing connections between recreation paths and trails throughout the valley, adding more multi-use field spaces and consideration of an outdoor amphitheater.
MetRec board president Cassia Cadenhead is a longtime supporter of a North Valley rec center. “I’m seven years into the dream of a rec center,” she said at the meeting. “As we as a valley work toward workforce housing as a priority, I want to make sure we zoom out and aren’t blind in the forest. The dream of this facility could help support a stable workforce.”
She noted that kids are in school 28 hours a week, for two-thirds of the year. “That is a far cry from a 40-hour work week,” she said. “The price tag numbers are large, but we are also the only ski resort in Colorado that doesn’t have a rec center close by (in the North Valley near the ski resort). I think we can figure this out,” she said.
The initial price tag estimate is indeed large.
The no frills, basic rec center concept that doesn’t include aquatics or a turf field would come in at about $38 million while the grand plan that includes swimming facilities (a lap pool and recreational lazy river type pool), an indoor turf field, a gym, track, indoor climbing wall, teen, senior and classroom spaces, would be closer to $83 million and take close to six acres for the building and closer to 15 acres if there are added fields and playgrounds on the outdoor rec campus. Those costs do not count the cost of the land acquisition.
Norris Design representative Tori Aidala said master plans are a needed document for things like grant applications and the concept presented gives people “a physical forum and spatial dimension to what we heard from county residents.” She said the number one priority from the feedback was rec path connectivity followed by an indoor rec center. Aidala said the survey that was used to compile the feedback was open for eight months this year and drew almost 900 responses.
John Barnholt of Barker, Rinker, Seacat Architecture emphasized the costs were just estimates, “at the 30,000-foot level that could be very different in five years. We want the spaces to be as versatile as possible without going to the extent of them being what we call multi-use-less.”
Operational costs are also being estimated. Barnholt said operational costs for rec centers have increased significantly from 2020 until now. “User fees would be market driven and the expectation is that the rec center would draw from permanent residents, second homeowners and visitors coming into the area. “The high-level estimate is that the (full-on) rec center would cost about $3.6 million annually to operate and after $2.1 million in user and program fees there would still be an annual $1.4 million deficit to keep the doors open,” he said.
“We are at the very first stage so things could certainly change,” Barnholt emphasized. “I would suggest doing a detailed rec center feasibility study in January of 2026 to nail down the actual costs.”
MetRec district manager Derrick Nehrenberg explained that the reason the feasibility study would be started in 2026 is that both the town of Crested Butte and the city of Gunnison will be putting together recreation plans in 2025. “We’re sort of out there in the lead at the moment, but we want to see what comes out of their plans,” he said.
Barnholt said given that consideration, the preliminary schedule would be that after the feasibility is complete in early 2026, there would be a bond election held in November of 2026 to raise the needed funds. If that passes, the design would start in 2027 and construction could begin in the spring of 2028 with an opening expected in early 2030. No potential location was discussed.
