Some players on El Santiago golf course paused a moment Monday afternoon to take in the great view they had of the new El Santiago Recreation Center, which is under construction adjacent to the greens. The red roofing material glowed brightly in the sunlight and the sizable structure has taken shape quickly.
Ray Martino and Sam Flynn, relative newcomers to The Villages, hadn’t ever dined at the original El Santiago Club — but had heard it was a popular restaurant. “We’re going to have to check this out when it’s finished,” Flynn, who lives in Sanibel Village, said. “This is pretty far for us to go,” Martino said. “We usually try to golf closer to home, but this is all the golf folks had to offer us,” he said. “It’s no problem though,” Flynn added. “We’re seeing something new being built.”
Green insulation lines the gables, and black tar paper insulation has been placed between the wooden wall beams on the building’s exterior. Inside, workers on stilts were securing wall board into place, and another hardhat team, using a lift, were working on ceiling supports.
Mark Cook Builders’ construction superintendent, Donny James, is very pleased with what he sees. “It’s shaping up real pretty,” James said, as he surveyed the project from a short distance. “We’re right on schedule — maybe a little better.”
“The outside facing is being stapled into place, and inside they’re working on dry walling — there’s a lot going on at once,” James observed.
“That red material up on the roof is not how it’s going to look when it’s finished. There’s going to be a really neat metal roof — kind of a burnished silvery color — not quite the same as over there,” he added, pointing to the El Santiago pool area building roof, “but something like that color — it’s going to look really nice.”
The Villages District Property Management Construction Manager, Randy Wilkerson, couldn’t supply specific details, but says the new recreation center will have the “old Florida beach shack look” so many people admired in the original El SantiagoClub restaurant. “It’s going to look very much like that,” Wilkerson said.
