After years of planning, Mount Dora officially celebrated the grand opening Saturday of its new Nathaniel Bell Community Resource and Recreation Center.
The roughly 31,000-square-foot facility on Lincoln Avenue includes a full-sized gymnasium, classrooms, a technology lab, meeting spaces, a kitchen, child watch and areas for before- and after-school programs.
Mount Dora Parks and Recreation Director Troy Shonk said planning for the project began about four or five years ago.
“So it really started about four or five years ago when we started the planning for the facility,” Shonk said. “Just being here through the year this was built has been amazing.”
City leaders say the center was designed not only for recreation, but also to connect people with education, services and other community resources.
Community organizations will also be able to use space inside the building to provide services.
Center supervisor Tela Williams said the city sought input from people in the community while planning the facility.
“We went into the community, literally. We asked them, ‘What is it that you guys need?’” Williams said.
She said one of the priorities was creating a safe place for children and teenagers after school.
Williams said that mission is personal for her. Growing up in Orlando, she spent time at recreation centers and remembers relying on them for things she did not always have at home.
“Just going into a recreation center as a kid provided me the opportunities as little as just having Wi-Fi that I didn’t have at home, or sometimes just a snack after school that I couldn’t get at home,” Williams said.
She said she hopes the new Mount Dora center can provide that same kind of support.
The building is named for Nathaniel Bell, a longtime educator, veteran, entrepreneur and former Mount Dora City Council member.
The city says Bell advocated decades ago for a recreation complex along Lincoln Avenue.
The center held a soft opening earlier this week before Saturday’s grand opening celebration.
Williams said more than 500 people had already registered for memberships by Saturday.
“We ran out of cards,” she said.
Membership is free, and the city says people do not have to live in Mount Dora to sign up.
Additional programs and events are expected to roll out in the coming months.