1st new Asheville public pool since 1970: $8.3M Grant Center expansion opens in Southside

ASHEVILLE - The crowd at the official opening of a new community center expansion in Southside was boisterous, and Parks and Recreation Director D. Tyrell McGirt said he saw people from almost every corner of the neighborhood: newcomers, old-timers, people who had been part of the fight for the new space, and those who were just there to enjoy popcorn, snow cones and a splash in the pool.

For Vice Mayor Sandra Kilgore, it was a homecoming. She grew up in the historically Black neighborhood of Southside, an area of Asheville uprooted by urban renewal, a program of the 1970s and '80s that devastated Black neighborhoods and businesses. Looking out at those gathered for the ribbon-cutting, she saw the faces of the people she's known for decades.

“The thing about the Southside area is we were a community, we were a family," Kilgore said.

"That’s why I’m so excited about this center here, because it brings us all together. All the ages, it’s a multigenerational center that basically has activities for the entire community. For us to network, to grow, to learn from each other, work together.”

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An Aug. 4 block party and ribbon cutting celebrated the opening of an $8.3 million expansion of Dr. Wesley Grant Sr. Southside Community Center, which nearly doubled the square footage of the 2010 center with the addition of a new gymnasium, outdoor swimming pool, community rooms, outdoor basketball courts and open space.

Some attendees, like Bobbette Mays of Shiloh, said it was a historic day: "Something has been brought back to the community we can all enjoy."

Mildred Nance-Carson said Southside has been her neighborhood since birth. She is chair of the advisory board for the Grant Center and said it's take years of work for the dream of the community center to be realized.

"Many years ago, we went to work to get our community a new community center," Nance-Carson said. "And so after many years, and a lot of hard work, it finally happened for us. And we are so very, very happy about it.”

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What about the Walton Street Pool?

The event was hosted by Asheville Parks and Recreation, featuring music, food, tours, games, remarks from community leaders and more.

“Even though the groundbreaking for this expansion took place just over 15 months ago, bringing a new gym and swimming pool to Southside has been a years-long journey,” McGirt said in a city news release.

“Everyone who lives in this neighborhood knows its rich history of parks and recreation including Walton Street Park, home to the first park and pool for Asheville’s Black families during an era of government-sanctioned segregation. Asheville Parks and Recreation is very happy to partner with Southside residents to build on that legacy with the expansion of Grant Southside Center — a smart investment that builds on the center’s original plan to bring valuable resources while building equity in this vibrant neighborhood.”

Though the tone of the August party was joyous, celebration spilling across the center on Livingston Street, the project hasn't been without its controversies, many of which centered around the 1947 segregation-era Walton Street Pool, mentioned by McGirt, a beloved community fixture in Southside, which was closed in 2021, in large part due to costly mechanical and structural problems.

Rather than renovate the Walton Street Pool, which officials in 2017 said would require at least $1.3 million to fix, the city proceeded with plans to construct the new pool at the Grant Center, about 0.2 mile from the Walton Street Park.

Some community members had been calling for preservation of the pool for more than a decade, fearing a continuous loss of Black landmarks within Asheville.

McGirt acknowledged these frustrations and "mixed feelings" after the August ribbon cutting but said people were also really appreciative to have the new pool. "It's a celebration," he said.

In October 2022, Asheville City Council designated Walton Street Park and Pool as a local historic landmark, the city's 50th, with the intent to recognize and honor the cultural and historical significance of the site, once the sole municipal park and swimming area for Asheville's Black population.

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Multiple city of Asheville departments and commissions continue to work closely with longtime Southside residents on ways to honor the legacy of the pool and preserve the space through adaptive reuse, a July news release from the city said. The park is also in the midst of a significant revitalization, with neighborhood requests including a new playground, basketball courts, lighted and paved walking loop, and multipurpose recreation field.

Nance-Carson said she was grateful both spaces would be utilized — one honored as a historical landmark, the other a new space dedicated to the Southside community.

"There’s a season for everything," she said. In her hands, Nance-Carson held a folded piece of ribbon, a memento from the symbolic opening minutes before.

Another advisory board member, Dee Burrus, also born and raised in Southside, had complicated feelings about the new pool. But ultimately, she said, "but if you don’t have the funds to renovate, then you have to accept what’s here. And I think this is nice.”

She was comforted by the work being done to honor the original pool at Walton Street Park.

"During urban renewal they took a lot from us," Burrus said. "We had businesses, schools, restaurants and our homes that were demolished. So to see this community come back, to be alive again, with new buildings, hopefully we will have more business coming back.”

What's new with the Grant Center expansion?

The Grant Center’s expansive enhancements are a major piece of Parks and Recreation's investments in Southside’s legacy of community recreation, according to the release.

Work has also recently been done at nearby Herb Watts Park, its playground completely rebuilt and additional picnic tables and seating areas added.

The Grant Center first opened in 2010 on the former site of Livingston Street Park, though the department had for more than 30 years operated community center in the former Livingston Street School just up the street.

Known at the time as W.C. Reid Center (now Arthur R. Edington Education and Career Center), requests to renovate the gymnasium and auditorium resulted in a decision to build a new community center. The first phase of Grant Southside Center featured an auditorium, three classrooms and flexible outdoor space.

Recreational offerings were hindered by the lack of a gymnasium, said the release, and with the new facility expansions, community members can expect more programs such as community basketball, water aerobics and fitness classes. The city is also inviting input on continued programming for the center.

“It’s just mind-blowing," Louis Grant said after the ribbon cutting. “There’s so much hope in this building, because they see what has been invested.”

The center was named for his father, Wesley Grant Sr., a prominent local leader during the civil rights movement and period of urban renewal, and founder of Worldwide Missionary Tabernacle Church.

“It’s just an honor to see this coming up the way it is now," Grant said. It fulfilled promises made by the city, he said, and he was amazed to have a project of its scale "right in the neighborhood where I was born," and where he still lives.

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New public pool is open

The Grant Center pool opened Aug. 2, the city's first new public pool to open since 1970.

Though typically the pool closes at 6 p.m., it stayed open two hours later for the block party on Aug. 4. Kids in dripping bathing suits, parents close behind, were a common sight at the ribbon cutting, and laughter, splashing and poolside cacophony could be heard echoing around the building.

The pool features a shallow family play zone, a deck with lounge chairs and bistro tables, a water basketball court, and modern restrooms, according to the release. It also allows for the return of Parks and Recreation's water aerobics classes, scheduled for Saturday mornings at 10-10:45 a.m. from Aug. 5-Sept. 2.

Shamira Temple remembered bringing her son to the Grant Center when they lived around the block. Then, he was in kindergarten, now he's heading into eighth grade. But with the new offerings at the center, she imagines they'll be back this summer to use the pool and the gym, excited to access such amenities without having to travel far.

It was amazing to see the center "bloom," she said, to see community gathering around a single space.

The pool’s hours are 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, and 1-6 p.m. Sunday through Aug. 27. Admission is $3 per person.

Sarah Honosky is the city government reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. News Tips? Email shonosky@citizentimes.com or message on Twitter at @slhonosky. Please support local, daily journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: $8.3M Grant Center expansion opens in Southside; new public pool, gym