Overview:
-The $14 million Chandler Park Fieldhouse is "a place where our youth can see their potential take shape, where dreams are born, and healthier lifestyles are built," says Detroit City Councilmember Latisha Johnson.
-Detroiter Mari Love tells Planet Detroit the fieldhouse gives children "something positive to do."
-Opening day activities included a pickleball match, lacrosse drills, and Detroit Rugby Football Club practice with kids.
Detroit’s 200-acre Chandler Park has a new landmark: the towering white dome of the Chandler Park Fieldhouse. Despite grey skies threatening rain, hundreds packed the grounds for sports demonstrations, food, and music at the Aug. 20 grand opening of the east side recreation center, the first of its kind in District 4 in nearly 20 years.
For residents, the day was more than a ribbon-cutting. 20-year-old Mari Love said she was eager to bring her younger brother to play football and planned to return for fitness classes herself.
“Sometimes [kids] don’t have nothing to do and people don’t know where to take their kids for extra activities,” she said. “This gives them something positive to do.”
Built by the city of Detroit, the $14 million facility was funded through the American Rescue Plan Act. Mayor Mike Duggan said the opening is a turning point for the city.
“For decades, all Detroiters saw was recreation facilities closing and being taken away, but that’s all changed,” Duggan said.
Inside, the dome was a celebratory scene filled with music and laughter. Off to the side, a DJ spun familiar Black family reunion songs while greeters passed out flyers outlining the day’s sports demonstration schedule.
To the right, the basketball courts were converted into pickleball courts, where players kept rallies going. Just beyond, the reception desks never quieted as community members lined up to purchase memberships.
Chandler Park Fieldhouse a ‘symbol of hope’
Alex Allen, president and CEO of the Chandler Park Conservancy, said the dome was part of the park’s master plan since 2014. “This isn’t just a place for recreation,” he said. “It’s a place where people of all ages can come together, whether it’s for youth sports, fitness programs, family events, or neighborhood gatherings.”
Councilmember Latisha Johnson, who represents the district, described the dome as “a symbol of hope, opportunity, and investment in our future.
“It’s a place where our youth can see their potential take shape, where dreams are born, and healthier lifestyles are built.”
On the football field, young people ran lacrosse drills, a sport rarely associated with children of color in Detroit. At another station, the Detroit Rugby Football Club guided younger children through practice and plays. On the track surrounding the field, neighbors walked, talked, and paused often to take in the new investment.
At a table outside, a group of older adults, ranging in age from 70 to 81, recalled the changes they’d seen in Chandler Park over their lifetimes. One shared a memory of losing her nephew to violence in the park years ago. That grief underscored her optimism about the dome’s potential to rebuild a sense of family structure and offer young people a safe, structured outlet.
Another noted how she had spent the day phoning everyone she knew to come out and see the new facility. All agreed the investment marks a positive turning point for their neighborhood, especially with the chance to stay active through the winter months instead of being confined indoors.
Not everyone is impressed. Debora Calvin, a 68-year-old resident of The Villages at Parkside, a neighboring public housing community, said the dome is an eyesore. After watching it rise from her window for a year, she said she worried about how families in her complex with multiple children will afford the membership fees.
“What I gather from this thing, now, if our kids come over, they got to pay to get in there. I don’t think our kids should have to pay to get in this, and it’s right out their back doors.”
Crystal Perkins, Detroit’s director of general services, responded that most feedback is overwhelmingly positive and the dome’s cost-efficient design made it possible to bring the project to life. She described the fees as “very nominal” and gave summer youth waivers and free community events as examples that the space will be accessible.
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Back inside the dome, joy outweighed concerns. A group of women walking laps on the track suddenly broke into a hustle when the DJ landed on the right song, their laughter echoing around the track.
As the clinics wound down and residents lingered in conversation, one thing was clear: the Chandler Park Fieldhouse is already serving as more than a dome. It’s a space that Detroiters claimed as their own on day one.
In reflecting on her childhood, Love said her parents often took her and her brother to recreation centers outside the city to keep them occupied, but “they were nothing like this.”
