Following about 20 months of construction, the 105,000-square-foot Fishers Community Center will open Nov. 1 to the public, offering community members a dog park, large indoor playground, track, gym, child care center, meeting space, fitness center and aquatics facility.
The new $60 million facility also will house the Fishers Health Department and a cafe, operated by Sahm’s.
“It’s an exciting day for our community — for a community that is hyper fixated on families and a culture of health, this place will be the epicenter of those activities,” Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness said during a Sept. 30 preview tour. “It’s going to be a vibrant place for so many families and people of all ages to come and recreate and build that … sense of community that we’re striving for here in the City of Fishers.”
Fadness spoke while construction crews continued work on some of the final pieces needed to complete the center, such as assembling the three-story slides in the indoor playground and touching up paint. Fadness noted that the center is the result of a community needs survey from several years ago, and credited Councilor Todd Zimmerman and Director of Recreation and Wellness Jake Reardon-McSoley.
Zimmerman said seeing the center almost complete was an emotional moment for him. He noted that the community survey generated more than 3,000 responses.
“What it did was, it led to us having this community center and everything in here — the top things that were asked for in our community, down to the even the smaller details are in here,” he said, noting that the survey also led to the Fishers Art Center, housed at the Fishers Municipal Center, which opened downtown last year.
Reardon-McSoley said the community center has a unique “delivery model,” which includes some amenities that are free and some that will require a paid membership.
“The playground is completely free to anyone,” he said. “The only thing that we will have a process for is, if you’d like to enjoy the playground, there’s a free membership process called a community pass.”
The pass will allow users to reserve a time slot, which Reardon-McSoley said is needed because the city anticipates the playground will be popular, especially when the weather is not good for outdoor activities.
Also free is the indoor walking track, which looks down on a large gymnasium that can be used for basketball, pickleball and more. The cafe also is open to anyone who walks in the door, as are community rooms of varying sizes that can be reserved for free, he said.
The Fishers Health Department is right inside the main front doors so anyone can easily find it and use the services. The new offices provide more space for services and education programming, Assistant Director Jen Engelmann said.
“We’ll have four clinic rooms that will run when we’re open … so, screenings, vaccinations — one of our newer services that we’re really excited about is our travel clinic. We’ll be hoping to see a lot of people here getting ready to go on some fun vacations abroad,” she said. “We have lots of really great programming and education to help our community really focus on their health and wellness and prevention.”
The paid-membership areas include the gym, fitness room and aquatics center, which has two pools — one warm-water pool and a larger standard pool.
The aquatics center has a dry-heat sauna and universal changing rooms with private stalls that can be used by anyone. It offers a water slide, a climbing wall and aerial play equipment, as well as a lift chair to help people with disabilities enter the water.
A child-care center offers up to two hours of child care for parents while they use the facility. Youth and family manager Gaby Slayton said the child care center — named the Action Zone — will take children ages 2 months to 12 years, offering parents time for self-care.
“Whether they’re working out or sitting at Sahm’s and having a quiet time to themselves, whatever — taking a shower — they know that their child is safe in our care,” she said. “I’m a mom myself, and I have a 2-year-old and a 5-year-old. So, for me, knowing that my child is safe with someone, just gives me so much peace of mind so I can actually go and enjoy my time and just sit down.”
The child care center has four rooms for different age groups, a small indoor playground and a fenced outdoor turf field. The outdoor space was empty during the tour, but Slayton said play equipment had just been ordered, along with sail shades for when the weather is hot and sunny.
A grand opening and ribbon cutting event is planned for Nov. 1 at the center, 11400 Johnson Farm Way — off Hoosier Road near 121st Street.
For more, visit fisherscommunitycenter.com.
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