City Commissioners eye major renovations for recreation centers

(ALBANY, GA) – In South Albany, sites like the Bill Miller Recreation Center have been left abandoned for years, long outliving their usefulness.

That’s why Albany City Commissioners are planning to move ahead with rehabilitating the property.

“Looking at the future, and including everyone, youth basketball, youth football, as well as the senior citizens activities like bingo, we certainly need a new facility that will last for 50-something years,” says Ward 1 Commissioner, Jon Howard.

Facilities like the Bill Miller Center were built in the late 1970s, and are also situated in what’s been deemed a flood zone by the city.

At this point, the best option for the city would be to rebuild the properties from the ground up.

Commissioner Howard tells us, “If we decide to do it, we can start building in the beginning of next year, and it should be complete some time in 2022.”

As city officials begin to put a timeline together for rehabilitating the properties, it’ll be sorely needed for kids in South and East Albany.

“We certainly need to come in and do some kind of maintenance, to help and to inform, and look at it from a future projection and how we would like to see this gym in 40 years,” says Howard.

The plans for the recreation centers will be funded by Albany SPLOST dollars.