Ben Garza Gymnasium

In late 2020, the Ben Garza Gymnasium in Corpus Christi, got a huge flooring upgrade. For several years, athletes suffered through playing a variety of sports on the hard unyielding cushioned vinyl floor at the Ben Garza Gym. These vinyl floors cause countless injuries and just don’t age very well. Gym staff and the players were ready for something better.

In 2018, City Parks & Recreation staff contacted South Texas Sport Court searching for a better flooring option. Following a quick phone conversation about the numerous benefits of Sport Court® flooring, city staff decided they needed to see for themselves. Over the next few weeks they visited some of our projects in Corpus Christi and San Antonio. They tested ball bounce and surface friction. They spoke with gym staff to get their opinion about the Sport Court® flooring in their respective gyms. In other words, they did their due diligence and reached the conclusion that Sport Court® Response High Gloss Maple Select gym flooring really was the very best option.

Staff at the Ben Garza Gymnasium were ready to upgrade their floor, but other city staffers were not quite ready to fund the project. Corpus Christi was looking for a new city manager and during this search many projects were put on hold.

Ben Garza Gymnasium
1815 Howard Street
Corpus Christi, Tx 78408
361-826-3588
Website

Under New Management

In April 2019, Corpus Christi city council unanimously chose to appoint Peter Zanoni as the new city manager. Prior to this, Peter had been a hard working deputy city manager in San Antonio.

City staff quickly learned that Peter was the type of leader that expected better. According to Athletics Program Manager, Martin Huerta, staff in the Parks and Recreation Department were thrilled to have Peter on board. They we ready for new city leadership and ready for much needed updates to Parks and Rec facilities.

Grant Funding

In 2020, the city of Corpus Christi was able to secure a grant through the federal Community Development Block Grant (CBDG) program, to replace the floor at the Ben Garza Gymnasium. That summer the city began accepting bids to replace the floor.

And, this grant money could not have come at a better time. The gym had been closed for several months due to a roof leak that resulted in water being trapped under the vinyl floor. Throughout the building, the vinyl had blistered up, making the gym unusable. Walking on the blistery vinyl was like walking on a 8,000 square foot partially filled water bed. Repairing the floor was impossible. It had to be removed and replaced. That was the only option.

Working Out the Details

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South Texas Sport Court provided the best product as well as the best price. We received notice on September 1, 2020 that we had been chosen as the general contractor to remove the dangerous water logged cushioned vinyl and replace it with Sport Court® high gloss gym flooring.

Nearly 3 months passed as we ironed out all the details. The bid specifications included a few items that we were able to remove. But, we added stripes for pickleball courts and we added a Court Clean™. We also made a slight change to the floor layout to provide more space between the edge of the court and the wall. While these changes delayed our start, the end result was worth the wait.

The final design of the gym floor includes the Parks and Rec logo at center court, a college sized basketball court, 2 volleyball courts, and 3 pickleball courts.

Starting the Job

On site work started just after Thanksgiving. Three days were spent removing the vinyl and cleaning up the water. During this time the bleachers were disconnected from the floor and wall and some minor surface prep was performed.

The new Sport Court® High Gloss Maple Select gym floor was delivered early on December 19, 2020. Installation commenced that morning. Over the next few days we installed all of the flooring, installed new floor sleeves for the volleyball courts, re-installed the bleachers, installed the new cove molding and door transition strips, and painted the volleyball and pickleball courts. We then headed home for Christmas.

We returned with a 2 man crew on December 30th and 31st to paint the basketball stripes and finish up a few small remaining details.

Wrapping Up

In the weeks following installation, we worked with gym staff to ensure they were trained to properly maintain the floor. We also ordered them additional towels for their Court Clean™. And, we made sure that had factory approved cleaning products.

In completing final close out paperwork, Corpus Christi Contract/Funds Administrator, Roberta Rodriguez emailed, “It has been a pleasure working with you, we are definitely extremely impressed not only with the flooring but the continued professionalism and support you have provided throughout the project.”