Baltimore reopens renovated James D. Gross Recreation Center in Park Heights

The James D. Gross Recreation Center is back open in Park Heights with new flooring, new windows and updated game and arts-and-crafts rooms, a rebuild city leaders are presenting as proof that long-delayed capital dollars are finally reaching Northwest Baltimore. Residents gathered Monday for a ribbon-cutting at the center on Lanier Avenue, which now meets current ADA requirements after a renovation that had been underway since the building closed in January 2023.

The project was first announced in May 2023 as one of four recreation centers in Baltimore’s Rec Rollout, with the city putting the cost at nearly $700,000. The work at 4600 Lanier Ave. included a new entry ramp, an ADA ramp, an ADA toilet room, a vestibule, a new kitchen, new flooring, a new ceiling, storefront doors, windows, restrooms and upgrades to the arts-and-crafts and game rooms. City officials said the center, built in 1969, had been used heavily by the Parklane community’s senior citizens.

Mayor Brandon M. Scott used the reopening to argue that Baltimore still has to move faster on neighborhood facilities after decades of disinvestment in Recreation and Parks. He framed Gross as more than a building, describing rec centers as places where young people and older residents can gather, play and stay connected to their neighborhoods. Scott also said the city plans to fully renovate three additional rec centers before the end of the year, placing Park Heights inside a wider capital spending push rather than treating the Gross project as a one-off.

The center’s neighborhood role has been broader than recreation alone. Parklane Neighborhood Association president Cherring Spence said Gross has long supported after-school programming, summer camp and lunch-and-learn sessions for seniors, which gives the renovated space a practical value that goes well beyond the ribbon-cutting. Baltimore City Recreation and Parks says it operates more than 50 recreation centers citywide, offering classes, plays, arts and crafts, and gym and game activities for children and adults, and Gross now reenters that system as a usable local hub.

The reopening also fits into a larger Park Heights investment map. In May 2024, Baltimore designated Park Heights as its ninth Baltimore Main Street district and described the area as a 1,500-acre neighborhood with 30,000 residents. That announcement also pointed to renovations at Towanda Grantley Recreation Center, James D. Gross Recreation Center and the historic Langston Hughes Community Center. With C.C. Jackson Recreation Center just up Park Heights Avenue at 4910 Park Heights Ave., the corridor now has a cluster of public assets that city leaders are betting can help stabilize the neighborhood block by block.