The Peoria Park District’s Owens Recreation Center is in the middle of a closure for some preliminary repairs ahead of a major necessary renovation in the years to come.
Similar to the Peoria Civic Center’s need to replace the ice plant that keeps the surface of Carver Arenas’s hockey rink frozen, the park district needs to upgrade its system at Owens.
“When we knew that we were going to be down for a little bit to do that, then obviously we started to look at the other things that might happen as a result of that construction period and that opportunity. This is not that; this is the preparation for that,” said Peoria Park District Executive Director Emily Cahill, noting the current work required the facility in Lakeview Park to close for 4-6 weeks.
“This is an opportunity for us to fix the little things, make sure that our ice can continue to be frozen until we’re ready to launch that big construction project.”
Cahill said the ongoing general maintenance “band-aid” on the ice rink machinery costs less than $60,000. She said the larger project, targeted to get underway next year with the bulk of the work slated for 2027, has a price tag in the range of $12 million to $15 million.
“We’ll see what we can do for that, but that would be something that is a necessary reimagination and upgrade to Owens,” said Cahill. “It is at that age where it needs that facelift and it needs to meet modern expectations of not only our skaters and our hockey players, but also the community that comes there to watch them.”
Cahill said the district has started the process of engaging with architects to help with the planning for the full renovation. She said in addition to the ice plant, they’re also exploring upgrades to the locker rooms, food and beverage service, and spectator areas.
Like at Carver Arena, the Owens Center uses the refrigerant R-22, also known as Freon 22, to keep its ice surfaces frozen. That product is being phased out in the U.S., largely over environmental concerns. Cahill said they most likely will turn to an ammonia-based ice plant system.
“We’ve waited as long as we could because we wanted – you always do, when something new comes online, you want somebody else to work the bugs out before you have to,” she said. “So that way, we believe the product is better and we’re ready now to make those changes in our facility so that our community gets the best product possible.”
Cahill said ideally they would hope to keep the Owens Center in operation as much as possible while the major renovation takes place.
“Our goal, and we hope that it’s viable, would be that we don’t really skip a beat; you may be on one rink, and then the other. But our work is to try to maintain access to ice in Peoria consistently throughout the entire project,” she said.
Cahill said the funding for the complete renovation will need to come through a combination of sources.
“We will have to issue, most likely, additional debt as a park district to take this on. But it’s absolutely critical that we do that for our operations,” she said. “We’re looking at a variety of grant opportunities that may help us bring down the amount of money that we would have to issue bonds for.
“There are always possibilities of some donor-driven efforts. We’d love to be able to engage the community in conversation about some of those special add-ons that might be possible with donor participation. But like everything we do, it’s not just from one source.”
Other major projects
Elsewhere in Lakeview Park, one intended new feature is “in limbo,” while another is set to open in the coming weeks.
The district announced plans for a roller skating loop nearly two years ago, but Cahill says the $4 million allocated for the project in the state’s 2025 fiscal year budget has not been released.
“Realistically, I think it’s important to say that the longer we wait for those dollars, the more challenging it will become, with the rising cost of construction, for us to consider that project without some additional funding,” she said, noting a portion of the $4 million is pledged to adding accessible paved trails at Donovan Park.
“It’s also really important that, as a community, we continue to do that evaluation to say what is the highest need of our community. If those dollars come through and they’re available and we can complete that project at that price, then we absolutely will. But I also want to be very transparent to say that the longer we wait, the more expensive that project gets.”
Meanwhile, construction on a $1 million splash pad is nearing completion.
“That one’s much more positive, because as I walk out to my car every day, I see the progress that they’ve made daily,” said Cahill, anticipating the feature will open in early to mid-July. “We’re really excited to have that there. It’s an amenity that we are excited to be able to bring to the center of the city, and we think that the community is just going to love it.”
The splash pad will be open from dusk to dawn and has an outdoor restroom at the location. It’s the park district’s third splash pad, joining ones at Logan Park and the Proctor Recreation Center. Cahill says splash pads have some operational advantages.
“The biggest one, honestly, is the playability of a splash pad. You don’t have to know how to swim in order to play, but you still get that that fun in the water,” she said. “It doesn’t require lifeguards. It takes less water, less chemicals. It has a longer opening availability during the day.
“You can splash pad for a longer season. The summer swim season at an outdoor pool is really only about eight weeks, but you can splash pad for probably 14, 15, 16, weeks out of a year, maybe longer than that.”
Cahill said that while the availability of lifeguards has been an issue in recent years, they currently have “just enough” staffed to maintain summer operations at the Gwynne Family Aquatic Center, the Proctor Recreation Center’s pool, and the RiverPlex.
Another major park district project on track to be completed this year is the $4.5 million transformation of the Golf Learning Center on Radnor Road, with the addition of the “Toptracer” technology to the driving range.
“It just looks fantastic and it is bustling right now. If you are trying to go out to the driving range, we ask for your patience. Obviously, the middle of the driving range is now a two-story facility with construction fence all the way around it,” said Cahill.
She said they are in the final stages of completing a license agreement for food and beverage service, and they’re in the process of determining the placement of signage around the venue.
“We’re trying to keep the facility open and complete construction at the same time. So that’s a heavy lift, but we’re trying to meet the needs of our community,” she said. “With all those things happening, our goal would be that that would be open sometime around Labor Day.”
