Hoover officials celebrate opening of new Bluff Park pavilion

The city of Hoover on Wednesday held a ribbon cutting for the new pavilion at the Bluff Park Community Park on Cloudland Drive.

The pavilion was built on the site of the former Bluff Park Community Center, which had fallen into disrepair and needed to be torn down. After listening to the community, city officials decided to build an outdoor pavilion instead of an indoor space at the park.

It includes a covered area, uncovered patio, two restrooms that meet standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act, a storage room, janitorial closet and electrical closet.

The new pavilion has been in the works since at least 2018 but was delayed after bids for the job came in higher than was anticipated.

When the city sought bids for pavilion construction in 2019, three companies submitted bids, and the lowest was $467,000 by Construction Services Group, City Clerk Wendy Dickerson said.

The City Council had budgeted only $172,912 to demolish the Bluff Park Community Center and build a pavilion. City officials then had the Turner Batson architectural firm and a structural engineer try to find a less expensive way to build it.

They thought they may be able to preserve some of the community center concrete slab as a base for the pavilion, but that idea turned out not to be feasible, said Jehad Al-Dakka, Hoover’s chief operations officer.

Signature Homes was hired to build the pavilion, and the final construction cost should come in between $400,000 and $450,000, Al-Dakka said.

“It looks wonderful. It’s a great addition to the neighborhood,” he said. “I think it’s a lot better than the initial building.”

Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato said he was glad to see the job get completed. “It’s been a long time coming.”

Brocato said he’s grateful the city was able to take something that had been utilized by the community for so many years as a community center and create something new for use in the future.

“I’m grateful that the City Council was willing to put more money toward it so we could accomplish this,” Brocato said. “We talk often about quality of life. These are the type things that contribute to the quality of life for a community.”

Signature Homes President Jonathan Belcher said he was excited to be a part of this project. He appreciated the vision that Turner Batson had for the pavilion and was excited to see the city reinvest in its parks.

“We look at this pavilion as a place the neighborhood and community can come together and fellowship,” Belcher said.

Lucinda Harpenau, who lives about a block away, walked over for the ribbon cutting Wednesday and said she thinks the new pavilion looks great. She has lived in the community since 1996 and years ago rented the community center for things like birthday parties when her children were young, she said.

“It was just a basic cinder block building,” she said.

The new pavilion is something that can be used by people of all ages, she said.