Congratulations to the Hillsborough County Parks & Recreation Department, which has now opened Phase 1A of a new $6.7-million multi-phase expansion of Branchton Park at 15508 Morris Bridge Rd., less than a half-mile south of Cross Creek Blvd.
On a frosty cold Jan.23, Hillsborough’s director of Parks & Recreation Rick Valdez, District 2 County Commissioner Ken Hagan, park project manager Jason McKenzie, New Tampa resident and Dist. 4 Comm. Christine Miller’s legislative aide Rico Smith were among those who cut the ribbon on the new 43-acre park.
Valdez said the new park includes a splash pad (which wasn’t yet open, but it was too cold to try that day anyway), a large playground area (with a blue turf facsimile of the Hillsborough River running through it), plus several changing rooms, restrooms and a “Cop Cabin” where Hillsborough Sheriff’s Office (HCS) deputies can have a desk, a lounge (with a working fireplace) and a place to keep an eye on what’s happening in the park.
Also under construction in Phase 1B are six pickleball courts, large- and small-breed dog parks and an additional restroom. Phase 1B is expected to open by no later than March of this year.
Phase 2, which is funded and includes renovations to the original 19-acre Branchton Park, also is expected to include a zipline (in partnership between the county and a private contractor, who has not yet been selected) and an event center. Valdez said Phase 2 will take about two years to build.
“I am thrilled to be here this morning as the commissioner who championed this project for over a decade,” Comm. Hagan said prior to the ribbon cutting ceremony. “How this occurred is that, for six years, I lived around the corner, off Cross Creek Blvd. And every day, I would drive on Morris Bridge Rd., because before we widened Bruce B. Downs (Blvd.), the traffic was terrible.
“So, I’d go down Morris Bridge, and I’d always look over here and see this beautiful area and I would never see more than two or three people on the basketball courts or in the little picnic area. And I just remember thinking that we could really do something special and make a destination here. Well, many years later, we’ve created it [and we] worked closely with the New Tampa community to get the amenities the residents wanted to see here.”
Hagan added, “This park will serve 45,000+ people within a ten-minute drive of this area.”
“We know this new facility will be bustling with activity the day it opens .” — Hillsborough Comm. Ken Hagan
(Photos by Charmaine George; renderings provided by Hillsborough County)
Local families and residents have to be happy with all of the new parks now being built or in the planning stages these days in New Tampa, which has long had a dearth of Hillsborough County and City of Tampa parks and recreation facilities.
Well, no more. Where zip code 33647 at one time only was home to the three-field New Tampa Little League (now called the North East Sports Complex/Eber Baseball) complex on Kinnan St., the county-owned Flatwoods Wilderness/Conservation Park (with entrances on Bruce B. Downs Blvd. and Morris Bridge Rd.) and Branchton Park (on Morris Bridge Rd., south of Cross Creek Blvd.; more on that below), we now have the city’s New Tampa Recreation Center in Tampa Palms, the county-built North Tampa Athletic Assn. field complex at Turner-Bartels K-8 School (in conjunction with the Hillsborough School District) and the city’s New Tampa Nature Park. (Note-Of course, both Flatwoods and the New Tampa Nature Park are largely “passive” parks without much in the way of recreational facilities, other than trails and shelters).
But, if you thought that was it for our local government-built parks, you were sadly mistaken, as the county is in the process of building a much-expanded Branchton Park, the city has created its first All-Abilities Park at the New Tampa Rec Center, a new covered outdoor “court sport” facility between Freedom High and Liberty Middle School and (as we reported last issue), also is in the planning stages of building a new 60-acre city park in K-Bar Ranch.
The groundbreaking for Hillsborough County’s new Cross Creek Recreation Center on Aug. 30, where the featured speakers were County Commissioner Ken Hagan (below right) and county parks director Rick Valdez (below left).
And, on Aug. 30, Hillsborough County held a groundbreaking ceremony for the new indoor Cross Creek Recreation/Community Center & Gymnasium (see the latest graphic of the park’s location, above) on the grounds of what was previously just an unfinished, underused outdoor “practice” facility in Cross Creek (just south of Pride Elementary and the Bassett Creek subdivision of K-Bar Ranch.
“There are no indoor park facilities like this in New Tampa,” Dist. 7 Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan said at the groundbreaking ceremony. “The city has the gymnastics center in Tampa Palms, but nothing for indoor basketball or volleyball. We know this new facility will be bustling with activity the day it opens.”
Aug. 30 was a super-hot day, so the festivities for the groundbreaking of the $9-million Cross Creek Recreation Center were short and sweet.
“I’m so excited for how this park will further our mission of enhancing lives through people, parks and enjoyable experiences,” said Hillsborough Parks & Recreation director Rick Valdez. “Our county’s parks are among our most treasured resources and we are committed to preservingm growing and maintaining these outstanding community assets. And community parks are among our most popular assets, with fun amenities for people of all ages, improving physical fitness and proving that you can have fun and stay healthy at the same time.”
He added, “This Cross Creek Community and Gymnasium will no doubt serve as a wonderful addition to this community and enrich the lives of our residents.”
Valdez then introduced District 7 Hillsborough County Commissioner (and former New Tampa resident) Ken Hagan, saying that “The New Tampa community has truly been a labor of love for our next speaker. He has championed major projects, including the state-of-the-art New Tampa Performing Arts Center, the very popular New Tampa dog park (adjacent to the city’s rec center in Tampa Palms), our soon-to-open Branchton Destination Park and now this. I must say that no one has fought harder for New Tampa.”
Hagan said, “It is such a pleasure to be here as we break ground on the next destination here in New Tampa., one of the most beautiful areas in all of Hillsborough County..”
Hagan noted that the new park has been “many years in the making” and said that when he did live in Cross Creek and his son was zoned for Pride Elementary, “We did not have any summer or after-school programs, and we still don’t have a public indoor facility, but with this project, that’s about to change. This project will transform this entire area.”
He then mentioned that the project will include a new 16,000-sq.-ft. community center and gymnasium, with a fitness room, a multi-purpose room with a warming kitchen, it will have multiple classrooms, a covered outdoor space, a new parking lot, walking path, more open green space with a large pavilion and the existing playground will be renovated to be ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act)-compliant and there also will be a new picnic shelter. There will be something for everyone here in New Tampa.”
In addition, Hagan said, there will be summer programs, after-school programs for kids, as well as senior programs during the day, including a possible ceramics studio. “Just imagine all of the possibilities for fun, education, community gatherings and fellowship. You’ll be able to do all of that at this new facility. It did take years for me to secure the funding, but I’m immensely proud to have championed this facility.”
The rendering of the exterior design of the rec center (top photo) and (below it) the design of the park’s revamped playground.
Following the “turning of the dirt,” Hagan also noted that because of the after-school programming at the new indoor facility, “We’re confident that it will help the traffic situation at Pride when school lets out. A lot of kids will come to the facility right after school lets out, which will shorten that queue initially and then, it’ll be spread out. Some of them will be picked up at 4 or 5 or even 6, so it will actually relieve the traffic here.”
Hagan also said that because a rezoning was required to get the park approved, the county’s transportation staff had to come up with a pan to handle the traffic beforehand. He also noted that because Bassett Creek Dr. (the roadway that connects Kinnan St. to Pride is a county road that turns into a city road just north of the park site, how the traffic will be handled is just one of the challenges we’re dealing with.”
Valdez said that the Cross Creek Rec Center should be open by Fall of 2025.
Branchton Park Update
Hagan also said after the groundbreaking that the first phase of the revamped Branchton Park, located further south of Cross Creek Blvd. on Morris Bridge Rd. than the existing park, was expected to open by the end of this month or in early October, but no update was available at our press time. He also said that his pet project at Branchton Park — the county’s first public-private partnership zip line — would not be included in that first phase and that not all of the Branchton Park construction phases were funded yet.
