Crews broke ground at Pompey Park on September 10. The old park stays in use while its replacement goes up inside the same 14 acres.
Each facility keeps running until the one replacing it is ready. The swimmers, after-school kids and Saturday ballplayers already at 1101 NW 2nd Street get to keep their park for the whole roughly $59 million project. The bulldozers reach the familiar recreation center last.
The Order of the Handoffs
The project's own construction FAQ, updated October 13, sets a separate condition for each piece of the park:
- Ballfields. Two of the existing fields stay open through construction. They remain available until all three new fields are finished.
- Pool. The existing pool stays open until the new pool is ready.
- Recreation center. The current Pompey Park Recreation Center stays open until the new building opens.
- Demolition. According to the project's demolition FAQ, the existing center comes down only after users have moved into the new building. That move is scheduled for summer 2028.
The Pompey Park project site gives two finish dates: 2028 for the recreation center and 2029 for the full park.
What Is Open on NW 2nd Street This Season
The City's Pompey Park facility listing says the community center is "open and fully operational." It also warns that the rest of the grounds and amenities may close from time to time as work moves forward.
| Facility | Status this fall | Stays open until |
|---|---|---|
| Recreation center | Open | The new building opens, scheduled for summer 2028 |
| Pool | Open | The new family pool is ready |
| Ballfields | Two existing fields open | All three new fields are finished |
| Other grounds and amenities | Open, with possible short closures | No published dates |
| After-school Rec Hub | Running at 1101 NW 2nd St. | No relocation announced |
The after-school program hasn't moved. The City's Rec Hub page still lists it at Pompey Park for ages 5 to 12, weekdays from 2 to 6 p.m. during the school year. The Out of School office is at (561) 243-7250, ext. 7159. The City's park page also lists senior club and youth sports among the activities based at the park.
The streets around the park shouldn't be affected either. The project says no road closures are expected because all work happens inside the fenced construction area. The City does plan separate road improvements around the park later, and those may bring some temporary traffic changes.
Eight Years of Planning, Twenty-Nine Months of Building
None of this was quick. Planning began in January 2018 with a site inventory and analysis, then moved through a concept design, a master plan, a pre-design report and a schematic design.
On June 9, 2026, the City Commission approved a guaranteed maximum price of $59,193,363 with CORE Construction, which will manage construction. The City staff report estimates about 29 months of work. The Delray Beach Community Redevelopment Agency is paying for it. At a joint City and CRA workshop on May 26, the negotiated price was $59,390,000. CORE then dropped some pre-construction costs, which brought it down to the final figure.
The same workshop decided one detail separately from the rest. The concession stand will get its own design, with community input. Once that design is final, CORE has agreed to build the stand at cost, with no construction manager fee. In a park built around the people who use it, the snack window at the ballfield is the piece residents get to help design.
The City's groundbreaking announcement names Justin Architects as the design firm. Randolph Construction Group, Hatcher Construction & Development and KEITH & Associates are also listed as project partners.
What the Value Engineering Took Out
That price came after cuts. Justin Architects submitted a package of cost-saving alternates dated November 24, 2025. The accepted changes and other savings total $1,276,272, according to the GMP documents filed with the City. Accepted cuts that park users will notice include:
- The fitness equipment area, $206,542
- The pergola, $88,426
- Half of the batting cages, $50,012
- One basketball half court, $34,485
- All planned work at the tennis courts, $31,373
- Bullpens at the adult field, $5,900
- Two of the gym's four planned scoreboards, $15,300
- Poured-in-place playground surfacing, replaced with synthetic turf, $24,047
That leaves a long list of new features. The project site lists a new recreation building, a family pool, a baseball field, a basketball court, a playground, a park shelter, more restrooms and more parking. The City adds an indoor running track and a multi-purpose field to that list. The building will be rated as a Category 5 facility. Its size is given as 56,389 square feet in the October FAQ, up from 54,191 in the June cost estimate.
The pool is designed for many kinds of swimmers at once. The project's pool FAQ describes one family pool with zero-depth entry, a shallow play and splash area, and a five-foot section for water aerobics, classes and lap swimming. A 2022 CRA description had listed two new pools. The current plan is one pool.
The Name on the Building
Keeping the park open during construction makes more sense given its history. The park is named for C. Spencer Pompey, a longtime Delray Beach educator. In 1950 he started one of the City's first recreational programs for Black students. In 1978 the City acquired land and opened a recreation center in his name. As WLRN reported in September, Pompey also won a federal equal-pay case against the Palm Beach County School Board in 1942, working alongside NAACP attorney Thurgood Marshall.
The park has stayed busy since then. The CRA has described it as home to senior programs, after-school and summer and holiday camps, and more than 40 organizations and civic groups each month. At the groundbreaking, the City unveiled ceremonial shovels painted by community members and City Commissioners, with artwork inspired by Delray Beach and the park's history.
"Pompey Park is part of the story of Delray Beach," City Manager Terrence Moore said in the City's groundbreaking announcement. The construction plan follows the same idea. The doors that have been open since 1978 stay open until summer 2028, when the new building opens and users move in.
For the next few years, Delray Beach changes block by block, and I keep track of projects like this one alongside my clients. If you want to know how civic projects like the Pompey Park rebuild fit into Delray Beach day to day, I'm happy to talk it through. Lemore Zausner is here when you're ready to Book an Appointment.
