New $35 million multi-activity aquatics center in Conway begins construction

Conway, Arkansas – The $35 million, multi-use, never-before-seen Conway Aquatics Center is now under development, having received approval from the city board in 2020.

The first public community pool will be one of the many activities offered by this complex. In addition, the facility will feature a gym, community party rooms, tennis, pickleball, volleyball, and even lazy river courts.

“What we wanted to do was make sure we tackled this project in a responsible manner so that the cost wouldn’t balloon out, but also we wanted to be able to deliver on some of the promises that we made,” said Bobby Kelly, Conway’s communications coordinator.

Conway now has amenities available that weren’t previously there.

A lot of the amenities that currently don’t exist in the city, like we don’t have public community party rooms,” said Kelly. “It’s going to have a café where you can order food, get something to eat. It’s going to have tournament quality and tournament space for volleyball, for indoor pickleball. You’re going to have an outdoor pool with sweet slides and a cool lazy river.

Building real road infrastructure was necessary for the community to be able to use the center.

“We had to build in road infrastructures so folks could actually get to it,” said Kelly. “It’s off of Corporate Drive. Most folks in Conway have no idea where that’s at. For folks who are driving by in the future, you’ll definitely see it now because construction has started on it and they are starting to clear some of the land to make way for some of the bigger projects.”

Kelly said this institution will benefit from Conway’s economic development.

This sort of further solidifies Conway as sort of this youth sports capitol of the state of Arkansas,” he said. “With all the offerings that we have, all the options that we have, will certainly give a lot of folks a moment of pause to maybe look at Conway as a place to go for the weekend, or a tournament, or the day, who knows, and stay here maybe and spend money here.

By the summer of 2025, the Conway Aquatics Center is anticipated to be open to the public. The city issued bonds to finance the center.