{"id":272942,"date":"2026-08-27T01:30:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T01:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/272942\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T01:30:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T01:30:10","slug":"148-year-old-francis-j-myers-rec-center-reopens-after-27m-renovation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/272942\/","title":{"rendered":"148-year-old Francis J. Myers Rec Center reopens after $27M renovation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.westphillylocal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/CommunityRoom_After.jpg\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-71287\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/CommunityRoom_After-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"367\"   \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>City officials and Kingsessing community members gathered on Tuesday, Aug. 25, to celebrate the grand re-opening and ribbon-cutting of the Francis J. Myers Recreation Center located at 58th and Kingsessing. Following a comprehensive $27 million renovation, the 148-year-old Southwest Philadelphia facility has been completely transformed into a modern, fully accessible hub for neighborhood residents.<\/p>\n<p>The extensive overhaul preserved the historic integrity of the original 1878 structure while completely reimagining its interior and exterior footprint. The expanded facility now features:<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 A new gymnasium, lobby kitchen, dedicated community room (see photo above), computer lab (below), and versatile classroom spaces.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Fully modernized building systems, full electrification, and complete ADA accessibility throughout the facility.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 New playgrounds, a sprayground, a community garden, updated landscaping, new walkways, security fencing, and upgraded lighting.<\/p>\n<p>Upgrades were designed to LEED Gold standards to maximize energy efficiency and environmental sustainability.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to physical and structural upgrades, the recreation center will showcase two new site-specific mosaic artworks designed by artist Reginald Adams, commissioned through the City\u2019s Percent for Art Program.<\/p>\n<p>The multi-million-dollar transformation was funded primarily through the City\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.phila.gov\/programs\/rebuild\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Rebuild<\/a> program, supported by a $4.5 million grant from the state\u2019s Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) and $250,000 from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED).<\/p>\n<p>Community engagement played a pivotal role in the facility\u2019s redesign. Local residents and youth shaped the project across 13 community meetings and stakeholder check-ins, directly influencing elements such as the new playground layouts and building functionality to best serve Southwest Philadelphia for generations to come.<\/p>\n<p>Check out other recently completed or ongoing Rebuild program projects in West\/Southwest Philadelphia <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westphillylocal.com\/tag\/rebuild-philadelphia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/SideEntrance.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-71288\" class=\"wp-image-71288\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/SideEntrance.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"364\"   \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-71288\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The building\u2019s side entrance after the renovation.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.westphillylocal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ComputerLab_After.jpg\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-71289\" class=\"wp-image-71289\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ComputerLab_After-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"367\"   \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-71289\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The renovated computer lab (Photos courtesy of Rebuild Philadelphia)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"City officials and Kingsessing community members gathered on Tuesday, Aug. 25, to celebrate the grand re-opening and ribbon-cutting&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":272943,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[69,71,70],"class_list":["post-272942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272942\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}