St. Johns County breaking ground Friday on sports complex and library near Shearwater neighborhood

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ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – St. Johns County officials are breaking ground on two major projects Friday morning that have been in the works for several years.

A new sports complex, a library and a community center are on the way to the Shearwater area, right off County Road 16A.

It is all a part of a more than $100 million initiative that started in 2019. The effort is to build four parks and facilities while renovating a fifth one in different parts of the county.

The St. Johns County Tournament Complex is going to have eight rectangular fields. Five of them will be artificial and three of them are going to be grass fields.

There will also be a track, playground, and multipurpose fields for sports like soccer and football. The complex costs roughly $38 million to build.

Tim Connors is project manager for the county’s parks and recreation department.

Connors says all the projects need to happen as St. Johns County continues seeing significant growth.

“There has been an increased demand for our recreational facilities across the county, north and south,” he said. “Our existing parks and field were really stressed and stretched for capacity. It limited access for youth leagues and sports organizations, adult recreation. These new facilities, the sports plex primarily, is going to provide that much needed space and modern amenities to support these local sports groups, as well as regional tournaments moving into the area as well.”

Blueprint of Central Community Park that will include a library and community center. (Photo Courtesy: St. Johns County Parks and Recreation)

A few hundred feet away from the sports complex is going to be the Central Community Park.

That is going to include the community center, a library, basketball court, multipurpose field and playground.

There will also be a splash pad, eight pickleball courts, climbing tower and a skate spot.

“Residents are looking forward to it as a place to go and just enjoy the weekends with their kids,” Connors said. “Our youth organizations are looking forward to it to be able to expand some of their programming and offerings to the community, and kids will get into those youth sports. Our tourism industry is looking forward to it by bringing in more tournaments to the area, getting larger-scale recreational and sports tournaments.”

Connors says the plan is for both of these areas to be open for business by early 2027.