$8 million Heilmann Rec Center opens on East Side

The new, $8 million Heilmann Recreation Center recently opened on the East Side. At 36,000 square feet, it’s nearly twice the size of the previous center.

Located near Seven Mile and Kelly roads, the center’s athletic wing houses a gym, a boxing gym, a fitness room and a pool. Its other wing includes a library, computer center, game room and an arts and crafts room.

Vincent Anwunah of the recreation department says that Heilmann is located in close proximity to an elementary and a middle school that are both able to use the facility. “We are working to enhance its connectivity to the school playfield — we are trying to balance activities in the area.”

The center was financed through an arrangement with the Detroit Public Schools. “We provided land for the schools, they provided us with the funding to build this,” Vincent Anwunah says. The land sale also funded the construction of the Farwell Recreation Center.

Source: Vincent Anwunah, Detroit Recreation Department