The Newton Recreation Center is planning multiple upgrades later this year as a new nonprofit will help support programming there.
Board members are revamping the building’s gymnasium by removing the large, 88-year-old windows, repairing the floor and upgrading the stage, as well as expanding the parking lot and repaving the basketball court.
Workers removed and sealed the windows on the west side of the gymnasium last fall. Board Chair Terry Purcell said doing so has helped tremendously with the building’s heating costs. The current windows, she said, make it hard to play because of the intensity of sunlight they bring in. The windows had to be covered as a result, but the curtains have deteriorated.
Sealing the entire gymnasium also helps protect the room when there are storms.
The board is seeking bids for the window project, which the supervisors will vote on Sept. 14.
The other work in the gym involves repairing and refinishing the current oak parquet flooring and painting new lines on the floor, and adding more curtains, lighting and an improved sound system. Board members estimate it will cost $25,000 to fix the floor, around $7,000 to upgrade the stage and $15,000 for the new curtains. They plan to apply for grants and collect donations from the public to cover the cost. New basketball nets were put up and LED lighting installed last year.
Officials plan to paint the walls and repair and refinish the floors once all the windows are removed.
For the parking lot, board members plan to add seven more spaces on the side of the building at a side door to the fitness center, and an additional six spaces to the existing lot, which currently has 38 spots; the lot will be repaved and have larger parking spots. The outside court will be used for basketball and pickleball.
The township engineer, Milnes Engineering, is working on the plans, which will go out to bid once they’re finalized. Purcell hopes the project will start later in the fall or early in the spring.
The main entrance to the Newton Recreation Center in Newton Twp. Monday, August 31, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
The parking lot is slated to be expanded at the Newton Recreation Center in Newton Twp. Monday, August 31, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Newton Recreation Center Board Chair Terry Purcell discusses expansion plans to the parking lot at the center in Newton Twp. Monday, August 31, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
The stage in the gymnasium of the Newton Recreaton Center in Newton Twp. Monday, August 31, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
The stage in the gymnasium of the Newton Recreaton Center in Newton Twp. Monday, August 31, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
The gymasium at the Newton Recreation Center is slated for improvement in Newton Twp. Monday, August 31, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
The pavilion outiside of the Newton Recreation Center in Newton Twp. Monday, August 31, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
The outside of the fitness room at the Newton Recreaton Center in Newton Twp. Monday, August 31, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
The basketball and pickleball courts are slated to be improved at the Newton Recreation Center in Newton Twp. Monday, August 31, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
The side of the Newton Recreation Center in Newton Twp. Monday, August 31, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
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The main entrance to the Newton Recreation Center in Newton Twp. Monday, August 31, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
The parking lot and outside court project will cost $290,000, and the board plans to use a $250,000 Greenways, Trails and Recreation grant the township received this spring to cover part of the cost.
Purcell said she hopes the improvements in the gymnasium will make it more usable for the community.
“We would like to see more sports teams using this, like the basketball teams, the volleyball teams, pickup leagues,” she said.
The improvements are designed to make the facility and its grounds safer and more accessible. For instance, repaving the lot and adding more parking spaces will allow more people to use the center, Purcell said, while the resurfaced court affords users a better playing surface.
The project comes as a new nonprofit, Friends of Newton Rec Center, was formed in the spring by a group of residents to spur community support to run programs at the center. Among the events they have planned are bingo, a cupcake challenge, roast beef dinner and all-class reunion for those who attended school in the building during its years as the township’s high school and later elementary school. They are also supporting the annual Fall Festival on Sept. 19.
Board members say having the nonprofit, which the Department of State approved in April, allows them to focus on improving the building.
“Now our focus is on, let’s fix the parking, let’s get the gym up in a situation where it needs to be, let’s make sure the stage is where it needs to be,” Purcell said. “We can’t keep trying to work with programs and manage (the building). The weight is off of our shoulders from that perspective because you can’t do everything and do it well.”
Georgia Liberatori, the board’s treasurer, said Friends of Newton Rec Center has really taken charge and done more than the board could accomplish.
“They seem like for a small committee that they’re very busy,” she said.