The Great Neck Rec Center Rebuild Has a Draft Plan. Here's What It Means for Your Swim, Workout and Court Time

The Great Neck Recreation Center sits behind Cox High School and next to Great Neck Park. The 83,931-square-foot building has an indoor pool with lap lanes and a diving board, racquetball courts, a weight room and an indoor play structure. The city built it in 1990. Its own capital budget calls it "a very popular facility with the citizens of Virginia Beach." The same budget also says that aging aquatics buildings eventually need their plumbing, mechanical and electrical systems replaced.

That replacement now has a drawing. On June 24, 2026, Virginia Beach Parks & Recreation presented a concept design, cost estimate and schedule for the Great Neck modernization. If you swim laps at 2521 Shorehaven Drive, lift there before work, or have a kid on the Great Neck Gators, here's the main takeaway. The plan keeps almost everything regulars said they were worried about losing. What it asks for in return is time, and right now the city has a two-year closure penciled in to start in mid-2028.

What regulars said they were worried about

The city's survey drew more than 900 responses, and a public open house followed on March 31, 2026. The presentation lists the concerns people raised:

1. Too many "bells and whistles"
2. A building that becomes too modern
3. Losing the wallyball and racquetball courts
4. Losing Masters Swim
5. Less focus on fitness
6. Losing SilverSneakers exercise and activities
7. Having to drive to another rec center during construction
8. The building staying closed for a long time
9. Annual cost increases

The draft plan answers most of the first six items directly. The last three get less of an answer, and they're the ones that will matter most to residents between now and 2030.

The draft keeps the parts people use now

Racquetball courts are sixth on the final ranked program list, ahead of nearly everything new. An 8,000-square-foot fitness and weights area is ninth, and the building additions include 3,000 square feet of new weights and cardio space. The concept also calls for two aerobics and dance studios, one for 30 to 35 people and one for 15 to 20.

The 8-lane, 25-yard competition pool stays and is ranked second on the program list. The additions are built around meets. The plan adds spectator seating, extra restrooms, a swim meet entrance, a meet management room and a pool office. That's directly relevant to the Great Neck Gators, the center's team in the city's youth swim league for ages 6 to 17. The deck doesn't say how Masters swimming would be scheduled. Keeping the lanes is what makes keeping the program possible.

SilverSneakers is a citywide offering. The city lists it among the drop-in group fitness classes at all seven recreation centers.

What's new is built around the water and the gym floor

The plan adds about 19,000 square feet of new space. The largest change for families is a new recreation pool with a zero-depth beach entry, play features, learn-to-swim space, therapy jets, an aqua track and room for water aerobics. The deck gives its size two ways. The pool reconfiguration slide says 2,000 square feet, and the ranked program list says 2,500. Final dimensions will come out of design next year.

A new Multi-Activity Court gym and refreshed courts produce this layout:

A walk/jog track is third on the program list, which ranks it above every studio and court. The existing gym is slated for new wood flooring, new track lanes, new court striping and a motorized divider curtain. The lobby gets a new welcome desk, more daylight, wider corridors and better sightlines to the gym and pool. Several of those items match what people said they hoped for at the open house, including an indoor track, updated gym flooring, and more windows and light in the gym and weight room.

The locker rooms, family changing rooms, multipurpose rooms and game room get what the deck calls "light touch updates," meaning new finishes rather than a rebuild. Further down the ranked list are a bouldering wall, an indoor golf simulator and an adventure course. Those are the items most exposed if the budget tightens.

The money is lined up, with two different numbers attached

The June deck puts the project budget at $37 million and the current cost estimate at $41 million, both in 2029 dollars. The estimate covers construction, escalation, contingencies, and furniture and equipment. The city's FY 2027 proposed Capital Improvement Program lists the project at $46 million in Public Facility Bonds. That total includes $4 million already appropriated and $42 million programmed for FY 2028. The two documents don't state their estimates on the same basis, so the gap between $41 million and $46 million isn't a confirmed overrun.

The funding itself has moved forward. WHRO reported in April that the proposed budget fully funded the Great Neck modernization and paid for design work at Bayside and Princess Anne. City Council adopted the FY 2026–27 budget and CIP unanimously on May 12, 2026. According to the CIP sheet, the debt service is expected to be repaid by the Parks and Recreation Special Revenue Fund through its existing dedication. The sheet also says operating costs may stay neutral or rise slightly, depending on how much programming the expansion adds. That bears on the "annual cost increases" concern without settling it, because membership pricing isn't part of the capital plan.

The schedule, and the line that matters most

Here's the June 24 schedule:

Under the table, the deck adds two notes: "Overall duration of Closure = 2 years," with notice of closure at least six months in advance. If construction starts in July 2028, that notice would arrive by about January 2028. The earlier CIP sheet showed construction running from April 2028 to April 2030. The later presentation moved it back about three months. Both are plans, not contracts. The city's project page still describes the effort as a feasibility study and links to the June deck.

Schematic design is scheduled to start in January 2027, about two months from now. That phase decides the pool size, which low-ranked extras survive, and whether any part of the building can stay open while construction is underway. The deck doesn't say whether the two-year closure covers every room for the full period.

Where the pool time goes for two years

Great Neck Park is outside the building. The city describes it as a short walk away, by Lynnhaven Bay, with shared-use paths and outdoor basketball and volleyball courts. Indoor swimmers will need another city pool. These centers have one, according to the city's own pages:

Seatack's pool has already had work. WAVY reported that it reopened in May 2026 after resurfacing.

The more important point for planning is where the other older centers sit in the queue. Great Neck, Bayside, Princess Anne and Seatack were the four older centers covered by the city's 2020 Recreation Centers Modernization Study. The proposed CIP puts Princess Anne's design in October 2028 through July 2031 and its construction in April 2032 through April 2034, well after Great Neck's planned reopening. Bayside has $4.5 million scheduled for FY 2028 and $44.5 million in future funding. Its proposed construction window runs from April 2030 to April 2032, which overlaps the last three months of Great Neck's planned construction, and no closure date has been set. Bayside is the backup pool whose schedule Great Neck swimmers should keep an eye on.

For Great Neck swimmers, the date to watch is the closure notice. On today's schedule, it should come by early 2028, at least six months before work begins. Between now and then, the design meetings in 2027 are where pool size, court time and the extras get decided.

At Thompson and Partners, we track the projects that shape daily routines on the Great Neck peninsula, and we're glad to share what we're seeing. If you'd like to talk through what a two-year closure means for your own routine, from where you'd swim to how your week would change, Schedule a Consultation with our team.