Multipurpose Means Healthy Living

Town Center
Mustang, Oklahoma

In the late 1990s, Mustang, Okla., a 12-square-mile suburb of Oklahoma City, began discussing plans to create a recreation center. The more they talked, the more they realized people were looking for more of a community center, not just a recreation facility. And because Mustang is a young, rapidly growing city (just incorporated in 1969), they didn't really have a downtown. These two factors combined and led the city to the "one-roof idea for Town Center," explained Justin Battles, the city's parks and recreation director (and interim city manager).

Designed by Brinkley Sargent and opened in July 2002 at the north end of the 158-acre Wild Horse Park, Town Center includes a recreation center, a banquet facility and meeting rooms, a library, and a senior center. It's surrounded by the community sports complex, which includes five ballfields, playgrounds and an outdoor aquatics center. "It's an amazing place and has created a good anchor for the community, Battles said. "Anytime you mention Mustang in Oklahoma, people say, 'Oh, you have the beautiful Town Center….' It's provided identity and great benefit to our citizens."

From the exterior, Town Center looks like a single, large venue, but inside, it's arranged very carefully to meet each of its tenants' needs. A broad central corridor helps with traffic flow and building safety, because everyone comes in the same entrance. Parks and recreation staff handle everything but the library, and various parts of the building are open at different times according to programming schedules. There are activities for preschoolers and teens, as well as assorted aerobics and martial arts classes for adults, and special programming for seniors. Battles reports that the recreation center—which accounts for about 13,000 square feet of the building's overall 59,000 square feet and includes an indoor track, climbing wall and basketball courts—has more than 400 visitors each day.

However, although they planned carefully for the building's many different uses, the city also enjoys using the space for large events. "Because of the design, we can use the whole building for one event," Battle said. At Halloween, for example, the library and Parks and Recreation department join together to host Spooktacular, during which 5,000 children come through Town Center in their costumes.

Battles said the biggest surprise has been "the retention of patrons we get. It's not uncommon for someone to come and spend a whole Saturday there." Rather than just one person running in for a workout, families come together. Mom does aerobics while Dad and the kids are in the library, then they all play together in the game room. For the first three years, Town Center had a snack bar inside, but it wasn't particularly successful. Now Mustang has cut back to offer only drink and snack vending, and patrons who want something more go to one of the restaurants nearby.

Perhaps the best testament to Town Center's success is the fact that it's already under expansion. It was designed for 10,000 to 12,000 people, "but we couldn't have expected the growth we've had," Battles said. There are 18,000 people living in Mustang, and expansions to Town Center's library and banquet halls are now under construction. The city is seeking funding for phase two of the project, which will expand the recreation center and senior center for a total addition of 8,500 square feet.