I had the privilege of receiving a sneak peek this week inside of Buford’s newest facility, the rec league gymnasium.
The new building located off Main Street sits on the former Bona Allen Baseball field. The site was also home to what was once the Shadburn Tannery Office which most residents remember as the Tannery Restaurant.
I was honored to have the city’s Parks and Recreation Manager, Ken Burge as a tour guide for this preview. Upon entering the new facility, I could see the pride on Mr. Burge’s face as he begins talking about the new gym.
Buford’s rec league has been using the gym, built in 1951 located on Hill Street. The rec league has increased by 66 kids in the past year amplifying the need for a new gym “it takes all of Saturday and a good portion of Sunday to get all of the rec league games played, the new facility will make it possible to complete them all on Saturday.” stated Mr. Burge.
As Mr. Burge was showing me around the impressive facility, he described the possibilities of the building, which houses two huge gyms complete with their own storage rooms. There are also two offices, restrooms, parent’s lounge area, a receptionist area, and five additional rooms.
Burge stressed to us that the city is more focused on getting the rec league up and running smoothly before they will even begin to consider the use of the five additional rooms. One of the extra rooms even has a partition wall that can separate the room into two smaller rooms. Many options have been discussed in regards to these rooms but nothing has been confirmed, “all discussion has been put on hold to focus on basketball.” Mr. Burge emphasized. Some notable features of the new gym are a drop off lane where parents can let their children out conveniently in front of the gym and the receptionist desk in the lobby will provide direction and help keep all the teams and players in order. The gym also utilizes LED lighting, and parents….you will love this….Free Wifi available in the parents’ lounge area. If you forgot to fill up your water bottle, no problem, this gym has you covered with a water bottle filling option on the water fountains. It is all extremely impressive.
City Officials are working hard to get the gym flooring installed and get all the finishing touches done. The City also must have the Gwinnett County Fire Department inspections along with the installation of an alarm, security, and communication systems. The City states that if all goes as scheduled, the gym is set to open at the beginning of 2018.
As always, we are proud to be a Buford family. Mr. Burge, I appreciate the tour and can’t wait for our follow up on the progress of the gym.
