Former Commanders training center renamed Midtown Green; city parks dept. to move in next year

The Richmond Park and Recreation department is taking over the former Washington Commanders training center, which has been renamed Midtown Green. (Jack Jacobs photos)

The future of the former Washington Commanders training camp facility in Richmond includes a new name and a new tenant.

Richmond Parks & Recreation is gearing up to move its headquarters to the facility formerly known as the Bon Secours Training Center at 2401 W. Leigh St.

City officials held a ribbon-cutting event there Thursday to commemorate the pending relocation and unveiled the center’s new name, Midtown Green.

About 50 parks employees are expected to move from the department’s current headquarters at 1209 Admiral St. in Northside near Virginia Union University. The department has leased that space for about 15 years.

Parks department Director Chris Frelke said the group is targeting a summer 2025 move-in date.

The training center was built as a practice venue for the Washington Commanders football team and was named for the Bon Secours health system. However, the football team no longer practices there and Bon Secours plans to relocate its onsite medical offices to the nearby Whole Foods-anchored Sauer Center development.

Frelke said the training center property was desirable as a new parks department headquarters because the existing sports fields can be used as a sports tourism venue and location for local teams to play. He said the venue already has hosted youth tournaments in addition to local sporting events, and expands the city’s sports tourism offerings.

“You can do soccer, you can do football, you can do lacrosse,” he said. “This will give us a really beautiful competitive edge.”

Another perk of the former Commanders training center is that it is centrally located and provides an opportunity to open a park in the city’s 2nd District that’s larger than its current recreational spaces.

“We’ve been trying for multiple years to have a park in the 2nd District. They have a lot of pocket parks … but they don’t really have a robust community center for their citizens to have meetings, and this would be great for that,” Frelke said.

City officials held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday for the future headquarters of the parks and recreation department at the former Washington Commanders training facility.

The city has budgeted $1 million to renovate the facility and convert the existing medical offices into spaces better suited to the parks department. Frelke said the building’s existing meeting space and locker rooms would be retained.

“We’re already doing design and working on that, so we can go out to bid to convert the doctors’ offices,” Frelke said. The project is expected to go out to bid later this year or early next year.

Additional recreational improvements to the outdoor areas of the 15-acre property are expected in the future.

The state-owned property is leased to the city’s economic development authority, which is leasing the facility to Bon Secours until the end of the year. The city parks department has maintained the facility since January.

Mayor Levar Stoney, Frelke and other officials shared remarks at Thursday’s event.

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