St. Clairsville announces plans for $2.7 million recreation center
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ST. CLAIRSVILLE -- The St. Clairsville Recreation Department has announced plans for a new 20,000-square-foot recreation center.
The Unified Bank Community Center will be built directly behind the St. Clairsville Amphitheater and will include an ADA-compliant public meeting room for St. Clairsville City Council to hold its regular meetings.
The facility also will have four basketball courts, four volleyball courts, eight pickleball courts, outdoor restrooms and indoor restrooms.
"We are just so thrilled to get started on this project," Recreation Director Eric Gay said.
He added that the project will cost roughly $2.7 million but is already 90% funded through donations, grants and sponsorships.
Gay thanked City Council and the administration, Unified Bank, Congressman Mike Rulli, Sen. Brian Chavez, state Rep. Ty Moore and the many businesses, organizations, families and private donors who supported and donated to the project.
"Unified Bank is proud to partner with the City of St. Clairsville on an investment that will have a meaningful and lasting impact on this community. This recreation center embodies our vision of 'Creating better lives and futures for the people and communities we proudly serve,' while providing a place that will benefit St. Clairsville families for generations to come," Unified Bank Chairman, President and CEO Scott A. Everson said. "This partnership is a shining example of The Unified Way and reflects the culture our Team Members bring to life every day. It demonstrates our commitment to investing in the communities we proudly serve and creating opportunities that make a positive difference in people's lives."
Unified Bank has made investing in St. Clairsville a priority. In May 2025, the Unified Jr. Rec Center opened its doors.
Gay has served as recreation director for the past five years. During that time, the department has gone from having one facility, the St. Clairsville Rec Center, to announcing its fourth facility.
In August 2024, the department purchased the Kevin Barr Event Center, formerly known as the Ruritan Building.
Gay said expanding the department is something very close to him.
"The event center building, the former Ruritan building that we purchased a couple years ago, is the most rented place that we have. We're continuing to grow and the demand is pretty high, and we’ve been very blessed and very fortunate with the great support from the city and the administration," Gay said. "Also I just can’t say enough about my staff and and and everything that they do to help out as well. They’re top notch."
He added that the current recreation center is not going anywhere.
"It’s staying as is but this will allow that trickle down effect where so many people are asking for this building whether it’s for birthday parties or graduation parties because of the size of it, but a lot of the time we have to tell them it’s not available," Gay said. "This will allow us to accommodate more people to do more things because this building is staying here as well. We are just adding another piece to the puzzle."
Gay said there is no exact start or completion date for the project yet, but more information will be available soon.