"I'm blown away by how this park has been transformed into the first community gym for the area and a true destination for New Tampa," Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan said at the June 29 grand opening of Cross Creek Park, as WFTS Tampa Bay 28 reported.
"Gym" is the important word in that quote. The outdoor side of the park on Bassett Creek Drive next to Pride Elementary is open from dawn to dusk, and you can walk in anytime. The 16,000-square-foot building is a different kind of place. It works through a $10 monthly pass, a registration system and a weekly schedule that splits adult use into weekday mornings and a few weeknight slots. In its first full fall season, the people who get the most from it are the ones who know that schedule.
What nearly a decade of planning produced
Both the Tampa Bay Times and WFTS described the project as nearly a decade in the making. Its price tag shifted over that time. When the county first asked residents about a rec center in 2022, Neighborhood News reported an $8 million estimate. At the August 30, 2024 groundbreaking, the same paper called it a $9 million project. By April 2025 it was $8.7 million, and the county's opening announcement gave a final figure of $8.6 million.
The opening date moved as well. At the groundbreaking, the center was expected to open by fall 2025. In April 2025 the new playground was already open, but construction on the indoor building had not started. The ribbon was cut on June 29, 2026, and WFTS reported that the rec center itself would open to the public on July 6.
The finished park has:
- A rec building with a full-size gymnasium, fitness room, multipurpose room and classrooms
- A replacement playground, a new parking lot, a pavilion, a shelter and green space
- New outdoor basketball courts, shade structures and a walking trail with benches
- Upgraded stormwater management and landscaping
Several items on the 2022 wish list made it into the final park, including the indoor gym for basketball, volleyball and pickleball, the shaded playground, the upgraded outdoor court and the walking trail. A splash pad was also on that list, and it does not appear on the county's list of finished amenities. In 2022, residents also pushed to keep the big open field, which was used for soccer, cricket, flag football and kite flying. The county's location page still lists open fields among the outdoor features.
The adult week has two windows
Because of how the building is scheduled, the indoor gym is set aside for specific uses at specific times. The November sessions in the county's WebTrac registration system put most adult activity in two blocks: late weekday mornings and 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on certain evenings.
| Day | Morning | Evening |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | Open-play pickleball, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.; Tone & Stretch, 9:30 to 10:15 a.m. | Adult basketball open gym, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. |
| Tuesday | Open-play pickleball, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. | |
| Thursday | Pickleball lessons, 9:15 to 10:15 a.m., through Nov. 19; open play, 10:15 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. | Adult basketball open gym, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. |
| Friday | Open-play pickleball, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. | Adult volleyball, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Nov. 6 to Nov. 20 |
The November pickleball and basketball sessions run from Nov. 2 through Nov. 30. Tone & Stretch began Sept. 14 and also ends Nov. 30, so its last few Mondays are still ahead. Thursday mornings have the most useful sequence for a newer player. The lesson ends at 10:15, which is exactly when open play starts on the same courts, so you can learn and then play without leaving the building. The lesson session ends Nov. 19.
The evening slots are limited. Adult basketball gets two nights a week. The Friday volleyball session starts Nov. 6, the day after this post publishes, and has three Fridays before it ends on Nov. 20. Both the basketball and volleyball listings require a Wellness Access Pass.
Opening hours, as WFTS reported them on opening day, were 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday. The county's location page does not list hours, so if you're planning a first visit for a Saturday, call the center to confirm.
Ten dollars is the price of getting in
For adults, the Wellness Access Pass is how you get into the building. It's open to anyone 18 or older and costs $10 a month plus tax. It covers the fitness room, open gym activities such as pickleball, badminton and volleyball, and select classes. Once you have the pass, you can sign up for as many included county activities as you like at no extra charge. You buy it one month at a time, and it can't be transferred to someone else.
You can also use the pass at other county centers. The Cross Creek location page describes the pass as giving access at one county recreation location. The pass's own page says you can use it at every listed location, no matter which one you picked when you bought it. That list includes Apollo Beach Park & Recreation Center and Emanuel P. Johnson Recreation Center.
Because the pass is monthly, it fits the calendar above. A November pass covers a full month of the Monday and Thursday basketball nights, all four weekday pickleball mornings and the three Friday volleyball nights.
The children's calendar fills first
At the June opening, WFTS reported that summer camp at Cross Creek was already full and had a waiting list. One parent told the station that before the park reopened, his family had to drive to a camp across town. The holiday camps on the current calendar are short, and the dates are set:
- Fall break camp, Nov. 23 to Nov. 25: 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., ages 5 to 14, $40
- Winter break camp, Dec. 21 to Dec. 23: 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., $40
- Winter break camp, Dec. 28 to Dec. 31: 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., $40
The after-school program is a longer commitment. It runs on weekdays from Aug. 10, 2026, through May 28, 2027, and serves grades K through 8. According to the county's after-school program page, it includes indoor and outdoor games and athletic leagues such as flag football, soccer and basketball, and it costs $80 every two weeks. Back in 2022, Pride Elementary's principal told Neighborhood News that the school's own drama and tennis clubs had waiting lists of about 30 students each, which was part of the reason she supported a staffed center next door.
Two field trips leave from the parking lot
The center's senior programming extends beyond New Tampa. Two field trips are listed for ages 50 to 90, and both run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The first goes to Circle B Bar Reserve on Tuesday, Nov. 17. The second goes to Hillsborough River State Park on Wednesday, Dec. 9.
The outdoor half keeps longer hours
Outside, the park doesn't need a pass or a schedule. The walking trail, benches, outdoor basketball courts, playground and open fields are open daily from sunrise to sunset. Look up while you're out there. The park now has two osprey nesting poles. WFTS reported that one has a plaque honoring two young sisters who spoke up for the ospreys nesting on the site before the park opened.
Planning a holiday gathering is where the schedule comes back in. The county rents out the meeting rooms and fields here. Its countywide rental rate sheet lists picnic shelters at $40 to $225 a day depending on size. Meeting rooms cost $80 to $140 an hour with a four-hour minimum, and sales tax is added to both. A small room for up to 100 people comes to $320 before tax for the minimum block. Check that a shelter or room is open on your date before you send invitations.
Projects like Cross Creek are part of what we track for New Tampa, alongside the corridors and communities around them. If you'd like to talk about how the new park fits with the streets around Bassett Creek Drive, Acropolis Realty Group Tampa is happy to start a Tampa real estate conversation whenever you're ready.
