By Erica Smith  

For the Enquirer  

Photos by Jeronimo Nisa   

PRICEVILLE — The $7.2 million Priceville Event Center will open this month with a multisport gymnasium and second-floor walking track eight years after city officials first discussed building a recreation center and six years after they borrowed money for it. 

Officials gave a tour of the center Tuesday, and its other features include a multipurpose room that can seat around 90 people at tables, an exercise gym and a catering kitchen. The city plans a ceremony at the building at 6 p.m. Wednesday and will open the 26,000-square-foot facility for public viewing. However, the facility won’t become operational until final details and inspections are completed, Priceville Mayor Sam Heflin said. 

“It’ll actually be finished sometime in the next two weeks, but it’s usable now,” Heflin said. 

Construction of the center began in April 2021 after an original plan for a 66,000-square-foot recreation center was downsized twice to fit within a budget provided by a $9 million bond issue in 2017. 

Heflin said the center will help bring their community together. 

“Everything we’ve (council members) done since we’ve been in office since the beginning of 2020 is to try and bring the community together,” he said. “There’s enough division in the world; we don’t need all that. Here in Priceville we love each other, we take care of each other.” 

The exterior of the building has 10 benches, speakers, USB ports in light posts and a yoga mat that is around 18 by 36 feet. In the lobby and near the entrance is a seating area, reception desk, a conference room and an employee breakroom. Heflin said there are two full-time employees, and they are in the process of hiring two part-time employees. 

The gymnasium court can be rented for events, Heflin said. 

A walking track surrounds the Priceville Event Center’s gymnasium court on the upper floor.

“For an event, we could have as many as 700 in the gym in a graduation type setting; we plan on hosting events of about 400,” he said. “We have a floor covering system that’s a rollout. You’ll cover the entire floor, and then we’ll set up chairs in there.” 

Heflin said the gymnasium court can be used for a variety of events. 

“We can hold basketball tournaments, volleyball tournaments,” he said. “We can also hold trade shows … . We can hold wedding receptions, we can hold banquets, graduations.” 

Chandler Phillips, event center director, said there are local basketball leagues that will be able to practice and play on the gymnasium court. They are the Priceville City Recreation Association and the Tennessee Valley Basketball Association. Phillips said they are currently utilizing the local school gymnasiums but will move to the center when it opens. 

“Practices are looking at maybe twice a week here and games once a week,” she said. “We plan on expanding into some different things, maybe volleyball. We are looking at some pickleball leagues.” 

Lines are painted on the court for both basketball and volleyball. There are six adjustable basketball goals and there is a divider that can be lowered down the court’s center. On two sides of the court are five rows of bleachers and there is a second floor above the court but no seating there. 

“It’s standing room which is something that is going in a lot of gyms,” Phillips said. “There’s three lanes of track up there that they’ll be able to walk and that’s free to everyone.” 

Phillips said a lot of the equipment in the exercise gym is smart technology equipment that can be used with smart phones or watches. The exercise gym includes standing and sitting ellipticals, stair climbers, inclining treadmills, exercise bikes, a tire flip machine and weights, among other equipment. 

The exercise gym will be available through a membership, Phillips said. The monthly cost will be $20 for individuals, $30 for couples, and $50 for families. It will be open from 4 a.m. to around 10 p.m. or 11 p.m. 

Priceville Mayor Sam Heflin demonstrates the tire flip machine inside the new Priceville Event Center’s state-of-the-art gym.

Phillips said the center will contract with a strength and conditioning coach, strength and agility coach and basketball trainer. She said they will also have contracts with a sports psychologist and massage therapist who will rent rooms in the center. 

The multipurpose room is 17,040 square feet and has tables and chairs set up in it. The room also has a movable divider. 

“We’ve already had several people contact us about scheduling corporate meetings here,” Heflin said. “We’re centrally located here in Alabama so (it’s convenient) if you’ve got people coming in from Huntsville that need to have a meeting. You’ve got all the (industrial) plants on the river; if they need to have a meeting, they can book this space and have it here.” 

Next to the multipurpose room is the catering kitchen with a freezer, coolers, heater and a combination convection, microwave and standard oven. The kitchen leads to a concession stand. 

Heflin said the idea for an event center was brought up when the previous mayor, Melvin Duran Jr., was in office. Discussion began as early as 2015 and bonds were issued in the fall of 2017. After the plan for a 66,000-square-foot recreation center was estimated to cost at least $12 million, the project was scaled down to 52,000 square feet and then to the current size. Heflin said he and the new Priceville City Council decided to make the center a reality. 

“We’ve always wanted to do something that the community could use,” he said. “More importantly, when this mayor and council took over, we decided that this was a way that we could go ahead and start developing our downtown center. That’s why we got behind it, we pushed it, we went ahead and finished up the plans, we went ahead and issued it for construction, and now we’ve got it built.” 

The center is located at 250 Marco Drive.