Beeman Park's Playground Is Back. Why Is the New Gym Still Behind the Fence?

The playground at Beeman Park closed in September so crews could work near its access ramp. By the Studio City Neighborhood Council's October 7 update, it was open again, which the council called "good news." The building rising behind the construction fence on Rye Street is a different story. Its design was finished and permitted in 2018. Construction didn't start for another six years, and the problems that kept it unbuilt are still showing up as change orders on the job site today.

That gap between paper and pavement explains the timing of the Studio City Recreation Center rebuild, the cost, and why three official sources give three different finish dates.

What you can use at Beeman Park this fall

The Studio City Recreation Center is an 8.46-acre park at 12621 West Rye Street, and most of it has stayed open through construction. The indoor recreation center closed on September 9, 2024. The city's facility page says the outdoor amenities would stay open.

As of the October 7 update, here is where things stand:

• Playground: open. Work near the access ramp is done, and a second temporary ramp is planned so the play area can stay open for the rest of construction.
• Landale Street entrance: closed, because the construction fence was expanded.
• Lighted baseball diamond and outdoor basketball courts: listed by the city as park features.
• Tennis courts: unlighted, and on Recreation and Parks' list of free open-play tennis locations.
• Picnic tables, barbecue pits, and outdoor fitness equipment: listed among the park's existing amenities.

The diamond carries more traffic than most park fields. A Recreation and Parks board report from October 1, 2026, describes the park's youth baseball program as "the second largest program offered in public parks." That is a lot of weeknight and weekend use for a park whose main building is a construction site.

A building that was ready to go in 2018

The old community building was 5,723 square feet. Council District 4 dates the gym inside it to 1952. The plan to replace it began as a city experiment. According to the October 2026 board report, "The Project was initially designed over 10 years ago as a sustainable design pilot project for gymnasiums in the City of Los Angeles."

Here is how the timeline played out:

Count the years. About six passed between permit and contract. If the March 2027 forecast holds, construction will have taken about 32 months. Most of the wait for this gym happened before anyone dug.

Money closed the gap. A 2019 city report said construction could start in mid-2020 only if full funding was in place, and it wasn't. The funding that eventually came together mixes Proposition K "L.A. for Kids" money, Quimby fees, MICLA financing, and a $3 million federal HUD grant. Council District 4's groundbreaking release credits Congressman Brad Sherman with securing that final $3 million and former councilmember Paul Krekorian with earlier advocacy. The project started on the city's books as a Council District 2 Prop K project. Beeman Park is now in Council District 4.

Why a shelved design costs more once it's built

A permitted design is meant to be ready to build. Between the 2018 permit and the 2024 contract, this one lost both its authors and its code basis, and the October board report describes how each loss turned into change orders.

The design team went first. The report says, "Key staff that led the design for all the design disciplines left the City as part of the early retirement plan offered during the COVID-19 Pandemic." The staff who took over updated the plans to the 2020 Building Code. According to the report, they did not do the extra quality checks needed to make sure the building's newer sustainable systems were coordinated across every trade. The report notes those systems use technology Recreation and Parks had not used on earlier projects.

The code basis shifted next. By the time crews were working, the 2023 Building Code applied, and the report says some conflicts with the 2020 version "were exposed and addressed as Change Orders."

There were also problems on the site that no drawing could have shown. The report lists delays from the Department of Water and Power in updating the transformer yard and power duct bank design, undocumented infrastructure found underground, new utility requirements, and structural changes made during construction.

Here is what that adds up to as of October 1, 2026:

1. Executed change orders total $2,793,882.
2. About $974,000 more is forecast.
3. About 40 more forecast change orders are being negotiated, and the report expects more before the project is done.
4. Staff recommended raising the contingency ceiling to $4.2 million.

The report says time-impact claims make up most of those forecast costs. In other words, a large share of the remaining bill is the cost of the schedule moving. If the board approves the report, the project's funding would total $26.425 million, $22.225 million for construction plus the $4.2 million contingency. That is about two and a half times the $10.686 million figure the 2019 report started from.

Three dates that mean three different things

Ask when the gym opens and you'll hear "early 2027." That holds up, but the official sources put it in three different ways, and they're tracking different milestones.

• January 16, 2027: the end of the construction window on the Bureau of Engineering's project page, which lists construction starting July 20, 2024.
• March 2027: the October 1 board report's forecast for substantial completion, the point where the building is essentially done.
• Early 2027: the Neighborhood Council's target for the grand opening.

Of the three, the board report is the only one that explains the time-impact change orders behind its forecast. Substantial completion usually comes before a ribbon-cutting. A spring 2027 opening fits all three sources better than a January one.

What the finished center adds

The new building is 12,000 square feet, a little over twice the size of the building it replaces. Plans call for a full-size basketball court, multipurpose rooms, a recreation center office, a kitchen, restrooms, and support space. Recreation and Parks says the extra room is for its programs and classes.

The sustainability features that started this as a pilot are still in the plan. A 4,000-square-foot rooftop solar array was bid as an add-on and included in the contract award. The project is aiming for both LEED certification and the Living Future Institute's Net Zero certification. The Neighborhood Council describes the result as a 100% solar-powered, net-zero energy building.

Outside the building, the work includes new hardscape for walking and gathering, turf and irrigation repairs, new trees and shade, and a larger parking lot. The Neighborhood Council also lists upgraded picnic areas, walkways, and water fountains. Neither source gives a space count for the expanded lot or a date for reopening the Landale Street entrance. The fence went out to make room for this final phase, so that entrance will likely be among the last pieces to come back.

For now, the playground is open, the ball field and courts are in use, and the building is 79% done. The October 7 update said the play area is set up to stay open until the gym is finished.

At Tammy Jerome, we follow projects like the Beeman Park rebuild because they shape daily life on the blocks around them. If you live near Rye Street and have questions about what the finished park means for your corner of Studio City, Let's Connect.