Costs for Wellington’s new aquatics complex have crept up slightly to $31.3 million, but the budget is ready for it and work has begun at the site, set to open in the summer of 2025, Deputy Village Manager Tanya Quickel told Wellington’s Parks & Recreation Advisory Board on Monday, Sept. 9.
The exact date of the opening has been a bit of a fluid issue. Quickel told the board that the opening could range from next July to September, but Labor Day, or Sept. 1, 2025, has come up in recent discussions.
Whenever the time comes, the plan is to demolish the existing village pool complex near Town Center soon after and not operate it simultaneously with the new one, even temporarily, officials said.
“We will not have both of them running at the same time,” Quickel said.
“What is the plan for the pool site that is being demolished at this point?” Board Chair Dr. Samuel Falzone asked. “Or is there a plan?”
Village staff members said there is no formalized plan, but it could become green space that adjoins the Town Center area hosting municipal offices, the Wellington Promenade and the Wellington Amphitheater south of Forest Hill Blvd.
The new aquatics complex at Village Park near its 120th Avenue South entrance is split into two major areas for recreational and competitive swimming. It will be located next to the also-under-construction Wellington Sports Academy facility, a public-private partnership spearheaded by village native and NFL linebacker Jon Bostic and his company Wellington Athletics.
“It’s exciting to see everything that’s going on in Wellington, and it’s nice to be a part of it,” Board Member Marc Murray said.
In March, the Wellington Village Council approved a spending limit of $28 million for the aquatic center’s main builder, Wharton-Smith Inc., but ancillary spending for a NinjaCross System of water obstacles and various architectural and other services pushed the total near $30 million. Quickel’s update to the advisory board pegged the total just above $31 million.
The aquatic center is one of the main projects in Wellington that benefits from a soon-expiring countywide one-cent sales surtax for school and community projects.
Wellington has collected $38.3 million from the tax over the better part of a decade. The village stops receiving the money when its share reaches $38.9 million, or by Dec. 31, 2026, whichever comes first.
That revenue stream already has helped, or will aid, projects from the Town Center community facilities to Community Park on South Shore Blvd., Village Park and others, including a small, unspecified amount likely to assist in demolition of the old pool complex, Quickel said.
County officials decided not to put a renewal of the one-cent sales surtax on the ballot this fall, but voters will decide on a half-cent surtax earmarked for school improvements.
By way of a vote at the meeting, Falzone continued as board chair and Stephanie Cagnet Myron was chosen as vice chair.
