The City of Greensboro, when it comes to Windsor Recreation Center and the surrounding area, is practicing the philosophy of “Out with the old, and in with the new.”

And, to that end, the city is getting ready to close the center – along with Nocho Park– in order to make way for work crews to transform the location into new, modern, upgraded facilities.

Windsor Recreation Center and Nocho Park will shut down beginning on Friday, August 16 in order for crews to prep for the construction of the coming Windsor Chavis Nocho Community Complex. (The pool at Windsor Recreation Center, however, will remain open through Monday, Sept. 2 to allow people to continue to beat the August heat a little longer.)

Starting on Friday, Aug. 16, all programs and events that were scheduled to be at the Recreation Center will move to other Greensboro facilities while construction takes place.

If you’d like to get more information on the future, time and location of a particular program – or you just have general questions regarding the project – you can call City of Greensboro Facilities Coordinator Erica Chadwick at 336-373-7501.

Effective immediately, athletic programs that had been scheduled for Nocho Park’s Lavette Field will be moved to other fields. To make reservations at other athletic locations, you can contact Athletics Superintendent Monique Floyd at 336-412-5799.

A complete list of program locations for the fall of 2024 can be found at the following link: https://www.greensboro-nc.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/59796/638579532609930000.

If you’re one of the many future users of the coming complex – or someone who wants to pay respects to the old Windsor Center – you may want to mark your calendar for the big celebration and groundbreaking of the new complex that’s tentatively scheduled for 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024 at the Windsor Recreation Center.

The $65-million Windsor Chavis Nocho Community Complex is meant to be “an innovative and collaborative space developed by the City of Greensboro’s Public Libraries and Parks and Recreation Departments.

 The 65,000-square-foot facility, they say, will “provide residents a place to learn and play together; improve daily living through health and wellness, offer access to City of Greensboro and Guilford County services, promote lifelong learning and encourage social interaction.”

In addition, “It will feature elements such as an indoor aquatics space that includes a lazy river, water slide, and lap pool.”  It will also offer “a teaching kitchen, gymnasium, walking track, weight and fitness rooms, plus a fully renovated outdoor park with a multipurpose field, covered basketball pavilion, and dedicated natural areas.”

Last month, Cone Health announced that it plans to donate $5 million toward the construction of the new Windsor Chavis Nocho Complex, where people will be able to do a lot more things than anyone could ever do at a traditional “library.”

Interim Greensboro City Manager Chris Wilson said at that time that he was very excited about having Cone’s help with the project.

“This opportunity to collaborate with Cone Health is an example of the benefits to public-private partnerships,” Wilson said immediately after Cone made its funding announcement.

Wilson added that the complex represents a new approach to the delivery of public services, one that recognizes the need for a complex such as this to be located in the community it serves, as well as be easily accessible.

Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan has said the Community Complex “truly is a one-of-a-kind multi-functional space,” and the mayor added that it will offer a vision into the future as to how to improve the city’s effort to meet the needs of the entire Greensboro community through a centralized hub.”

The people who are currently served by the Windsor Recreation Center, Vance Chavis Library and Nocho Park, according to city officials, have experienced a substantial lack of access to necessary services over the years – and this center is meant to help those in the surrounding area get easy access to those services.

Greensboro Public Libraries and Greensboro Parks and Recreation are aiming to create a centralized hub for that community meant to meet the needs of that population and offer the delivery of services in a way that hasn’t been done in this area before.

Rather than being “just a library” – or “a place where you simply check out a book” – the new expanded state-of-the-art facility will be a community gathering center that offers visitors things such as maker spaces, lounges to write, work or study in, and spaces geared toward different age groups.

Also, in addition to basketball courts and swimming pools; the complex will include other sports facilities and an aquatic center with lots of water-based amenities.  For instance, it will have an indoor aquatic area that includes a “lazy river, water slide and lap swim.”

It will also have a teaching kitchen, gymnasium, walking track, weight room, fitness room, sensory space, dedicated spaces for children, teens, and seniors, and flexible programming rooms and spaces both indoor and outdoor.”

In addition, the park connected to the complex won’t just offer a traditional playground and a ballpark: It will also feature “universal play spaces,” outdoor gym facilities as well as “a place to celebrate the significant history of a community.”

Guilford County departments such as Public Health, Social Services, and the Cooperative Extension will offer services to county residents at the complex. For instance, eligibility services, including Medicaid, will be offered – as well as Food and Nutrition, and Women, Infants, and Children services.

Classes centered on wellness, exercise, health and nutrition will also be offered.

And the new Community Complex, while not a health clinic, will be largely wellness-oriented – that is, it will be a “proactive” health facility that offers users a place where they can improve their mental and physical health through positive wellness practices.

“Nocho” Park was named for Jacob Robert Nocho – an African American teacher, humanitarian and community leader – who moved from Pennsylvania to Greensboro in 1840 and later established an African-American school at St. James’s Presbyterian Church.

He was voted to be the first black federal postal clerk and he became an influential leader in Greensboro.

In 1937, Nocho Park opened the first Windsor Recreation Center, which was funded by the federal Works Progress Administration Act. The center was named for William Blackstone Windsor, who passed away in 1932.

He was the superintendent of the Greensboro Negro Schools.

That early Windsor Recreation Center included bathing facilities, a swimming pool, a tennis court and a playground. The park later added hiking trails and picnic areas and it was once recognized by a prominent historian of black culture as “one of the best Negro recreation centers in the South.”

In 1968, Windsor Recreation Center was replaced by a newer facility. That meant improvements but also the loss of some heavily used features such as a large “lake-sized” swimming pool.”

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