Orange County scheduled a ribbon-cutting for the new Tangelo Park Community Action Center on Wednesday, October 14, 2026, marking the planned debut of a nearly 10,000-square-foot facility at 5160 Pueblo Street built to replace the neighborhood's old YMCA building. The project calls for youth mentoring initiatives, job placement and life-skills programs, and other social-service resources under one roof.
According to Orange County Government, the facility was set to open with a computer lab, an indoor basketball court, an outdoor swimming pool, and a multipurpose room built to hold more than 300 people. County officials describe it as the ninth county-run community center in Orange County, part of a network that the government says provides neighborhood-specific programs, resources and services to more than 250,000 residents each year.
Orange County Mayor Jerry L. Demings and District 6 Commissioner Michael Scott were scheduled as featured speakers at the ceremony, with Tangelo Park community leaders and residents also slated to offer remarks, per the county's announcement. As West Orlando News reported, Scott described the center as marking an important milestone and continued investment in Tangelo Park's future.
From YMCA to County-Run Hub
The site's history as a neighborhood gathering spot predates this latest overhaul. The facility is described on its own community page as the new community center, formerly the YMCA, according to tangelopark.org. That same page lists employment services, referrals, resume building, workshops and one-on-one career training among the offerings now based there.
Construction on the project broke ground on February 3, 2025, the station notes, with crews initially expecting the work to wrap in about a year and the center to open in January 2026. The build combined new construction with renovation of an existing structure, and project records reviewed by constructconnect.com show the existing gymnasium was kept in place, with interior and exterior renovations planned around it. New construction was slated to add a lobby, multipurpose space, classrooms, a computer lab and office space, per the same listing.
Cost Estimates Diverge
Figures on the project's price tag are not consistent across available records. One construction project listing put the estimated cost at $6 million, while a February 2025 report from the television station described it as a projected $10 million facility — the discrepancy between the two figures has not been reconciled.
County officials have also offered differing figures on how many people its community centers reach overall. The announcement for the Tangelo Park opening states that Community Action Centers serve more than 250,000 residents each year, while a separate December 2025 county account put the number at nearly 300,000 residents walking through the doors annually — another figure that has not been reconciled with the other.
What the Network Has Delivered
Beyond Tangelo Park, Orange County's broader Community Centers network connects residents with job fairs, health screenings, financial-literacy classes and after-school programs, the county said in its December account. Over the past year, those centers distributed more than 87,000 food boxes, helped nearly 800 residents find employment, and provided school supplies to 1,500 students, according to the same county report.
