Meridian celebrates ownership of Homecourt gym, a long-desired fieldhouse

The city of Meridian held a grand re-opening for Meridian Homecourt on Tuesday — a celebration of an ownership switch that happened Sept. 30.

Meridian purchased the Homecourt facility, 936 W. Taylor Ave., from the YMCA for $4 million. The deal was part of the YMCA’s construction of a full-service facility in south Meridian, set to open in early 2018.

“For years, we’ve been looking at our needs relating to a fieldhouse,” said Steve Siddoway, the director of Meridian parks and recreation. “We have been saving up for a number of years. ... We were able to purchase this for less than we could have built a new facility.”

Meridian has taken over operations at Homecourt but has a shared-use agreement with the YMCA until the new facility is built. That allows YMCA members to utilize the fitness gym and one basketball court.

Homecourt, which was spruced up by the city in the past few months, includes four basketball courts. The fitness area will be renovated and used for other programming after the YMCA moves out and removes the fitness equipment.

Homecourt offers open-gym times every day for $4 for non-residents, $3 for residents and $2 for resident youths and seniors.

The schedule:

▪ Monday: 6:30-9:30 p.m., adult basketball.

▪ Tuesday: 6:30-9:30 p.m., adult volleyball.

▪ Wednesday: 6:30-9:30 p.m., adult pickleball.

▪ Thursday: 6:30-9:30 p.m., adult pickleball.

▪ Friday-Sunday: 6:30-9:30 p.m., family nights for basketball, volleyball and pickleball.

This story was originally published December 21, 2016 at 12:21 AM with the headline "Meridian celebrates ownership of Homecourt gym, a long-desired fieldhouse."