The Crestwood Board of Aldermen reviewed an updated design for the new Family Games Complex at its June 23 meeting. The complex will be located in Whitecliff Park at the location of the current Crestwood Community Center and its parking lot; the existing community center will be torn down since its replacement, The Cliffs, is currently under construction across the way.
“This new approach ultimately creates more recreation space, more gathering space and really more long-term value, I think, than the original concept does,” Mayor Scott Shipley said about the updated design for the complex.
Representatives from Bond Architects, the firm that has been designing the Family Games Complex, gave a short presentation at the meeting on the details of the new design. Aldermen then had the chance to give feedback, which will be taken into consideration during the finalization of the design.
Crestwood and Bond Architects are still working through final budget considerations, which may minorly influence aspects of the current site layout.
On the north side of the site, the city would construct four regulation pickleball courts, along with two 20-foot by 20-foot concrete patios with pavilions and landscaping. A gated access drive would wrap around the courts using a path that already exists. Architects mentioned that they are aiming to reuse what they can from the existing design to help with the cost.
The central portion of the site would be transformed into an amphitheater for productions like those put on by the Whitecliff Summer Playhouse. Currently, public restrooms and green room restrooms are both slated to go behind a storage unit for the productions, which itself sits behind a covered 37-by-26 foot stage.
The stage would be at the front of a gently sloping, terraced turf amphitheater where attendees of productions in the park can sit on picnic blankets and lawn chairs. The amphitheater seating is roughly 111-by-60 feet, which is meant to seat 300-500 people.
To the southwest of the stage, there would be an area of open, artificial turf beside a section devoted to other games. Currently in the plans, there is a regulation shuffleboard court, followed by two regulation bocce courts. A seating area is factored in so that people can watch the games. The bocce court area would buttress against the fenceline of the Crestwood Aquatic Center.
When it came time for the board to give suggestions, Ward 4 Alderman John Sebben inquired about a concession stand for attendees of the Family Game Complex. Ward 1 Alderman Jim Zavist added his concern about parking, since in the new plan, the city will lose “a couple dozen” parking spaces. He asked about double-loaded parking along the access drive.
The Family Games Complex project is being funded by Proposition A, a $33 million bond issue that was passed in 2024 in order to accomplish a variety of Crestwood Parks and Recreation projects — this complex among them.
Initially, the Family Games Complex was envisioned as a combination of outdoor and indoor recreational facilities that would have used parts of the existing Crestwood Community Center building.
“But as planning progressed and construction costs were updated, it became clear that retaining and renovating portions of our nearly 50-year-old building was going to cost substantially more than anticipated,” Shipley said. “We had a choice: we could continue with the original concept and figure out what would need to be removed to make the budget work, or we could step back and ask a different question. That was, ‘How can we create the greatest long-term value for Crestwood without compromising on features?’”
Shipley added, “That led us to rethink not just the building, but the entire site and the entire concept. What emerged, I think, is something that builds on priorities outlined in Prop A as well as the Parks Master Plan, and it creates a destination that works together with The Cliffs and the Aquatic Center … and the rest of Whitecliff Park.”