The city’s parks department is completing renovations to existing tennis courts at Merchant Center Court and nearby Kentucky Wesleyan College, and plans to open three additional courts at Center Court by mid-October.
Earlier this year, city officials solicited bids from contractors interested in building three new courts at Center Court. The cost of this project was $450,000, but the decision was made to update the facility’s indoor and outdoor courts at the same time.
Deputy city engineer Dirk Dooper said officials also decided to re-seal and repaint the facility’s six indoor courts and nine outdoor courts while the new courts are being built.
The additional work brought the total cost at Center Court to $578,000, Dooper said.
“These also needed to be restricted,” so the new courts and renovation were done under one contract, Dooper said.
Kerry Bodenheimer, superintendent of recreation for the Department of Parks and Recreation, said Friday that the indoor courts and three outdoor courts are complete, and three additional outdoor courts will be ready by Monday. Resealing and painting of the remaining outdoor courts should be done by midweek, Bodenheimer said.
The restoration work was done in stages.
“We were able to do three courts at once, so at no time were we without courts on site,” Bodeheimer said.
Additionally, all 12 city courts at Moreland Park were also open while work at Center Court continued, she said.
The construction of the three new outdoor courts has been delayed.
“Mother Nature hasn’t been our best friend,” Bodenheimer said. “The deluge of rain over the weekend didn’t help at all. We’ve had significant rain delays since July, but we’re still moving forward.”
The goal is to have the new pitches ready for players by mid-October, Bodenheimer said.
Courts owned by the City of Kentucky Wesleyan are on McJohnson Avenue. The cost of regrading, sealing and painting the courts and installing fencing is $197,000, Bodenheimer said.
This work should be completed by September 22.
“We’re actually having a USTA (US Tennis Association) adult state tournament this weekend,” Bodenheimer said. All city-owned courts, including the McJohnson Avenue courts, will be used this weekend.
“Last year we had 300 adults in town for this event,” Bodenheimer said.
