Parkview Rec Center opens in Penn-North, honors Antonio Hayes' mother

A new Parkview Rec Center opened in Penn-North with a state-of-the-art gym, room for classes and activities, and a space named for Sonia Hayes, turning a $12 million-plus city project into both a neighborhood amenity and a family tribute. For West Baltimore, the question is whether the building marks a real shift in a community long short on safe places for young people, and city officials are betting that it does.

The facility sits on the site of the former Westside Elementary School, where Baltimore City says it is building a new recreation center and park to replace the old school-attached recreation space. City project materials tie the work to the Baltimore City Department of Housing and Community Development’s Penn-North redevelopment efforts, part of a coordinated push to improve housing, vacant buildings and recreation opportunities in the area. Officials have described the rec center as the first of several public investment efforts underway nearby.

Mayor Brandon Scott, Baltimore City Recreation and Parks, Maryland Sen. Antonio Hayes, Councilman James Torrence, the Department of Housing and Community Development and community leaders marked the grand opening. Baltimore City Recreation and Parks says the city operates more than 50 recreation centers across Baltimore, and Parkview now joins that network with activities that include classes, plays, arts and crafts, gym time and games for kids and adults.

The naming of one room for Sonia Hayes gave the ribbon-cutting a deeply personal edge. Antonio Hayes learned during the opening that the room had been dedicated to his late mother, whose life was marked by addiction struggles and by a commitment to her neighborhood and its children. Family members said the honor would have meant a great deal to her. Hayes also reflected on the relatives who stepped in to raise him, saying his grandmother and aunt became the stabilizing force that helped shape him into the legislator and change agent he is today.

That personal history mirrored the larger story city leaders were trying to tell in Penn-North: a former school site, once home to a Black-owned barbershop before that, being repurposed again for public use. Torrence said the reopening reflected a continued commitment to reinvesting in Penn-North and creating spaces where young people, families and residents can thrive. For a neighborhood still working to rebuild its identity, Parkview is being presented not just as another rec center, but as a tangible public investment in safety, stability and community pride.