The village of Woodridge is home to Cypress Cove Family Aquatic Park, Orchard Hill Sports Field Complex and Falcon Ridge Park. And now there is the Athletic Recreation Center.
Dubbed as ARC, this new $18.7 million development—which totals to 76,291 square feet opened Jan. 2 at 8201 S. Janes Ave. in Woodridge—allows for a number of different sports and recreational activities.
“It’s been a long time planning to see it open to residents to fulfill a long-term need is amazing,” said Mike Adams, Executive Director at Woodridge Park District. “We really never had a space for sports and recreation. Now, we can hold year-round events for the community.”
The idea to build the ARC dates back to 1999.
The project didn’t start to come together until 2009, at which time the Woodridge Park District organized a focus group to gauge community interest and surveyed residents.
“We really wanted a quality building that our community can be proud of,” Adams said.
The building features high-energy efficient building solutions, such as LED lighting, to minimize operational costs and protect the environment and a strategic design layout to promote both building and patron safety.
But the facility’s location and accessibility to the pubic is equally impressive, Adams said.
“Now we have this recreational corridor up and down Janes Avenue,” he said.
Located just north is the ARC Soccer Field and Janes Avenue Park. To the south, there is Cypress Cove Family Aquatic Park, Orchard Hill Sports Field Complex and Falcon Ridge Park.
“We intentionally located the facility within the neighborhoods,” Adams said. “A lot of times, these buildings are [not as accessible]. We wanted to make sure it was easily accessible to residents at 8201 S. Janes Ave. It really is the geographic center of Woodridge.”
Adams said residents overwhelmingly appear to enjoy the new opportunities made possible thanks to the ARC.
“The very first day we opened, it was packed,” he said. “We had a soccer tournament. Memberships for fitness were growing.”
Previously, the Woodridge Park District used area school gymnasiums and a small group exercise room within the existing community center. Fitness memberships and rental information were not available.
To date, there are more than 1,600 new fitness memberships.
Park District officials set a 1,750 goal for memberships they should seek to obtain during the current fiscal year; they expect to surpass it.
“That’s a very strong membership when we just opened the facility,” Adams said.