For about a year and a half, Manatee County's director of sports and leisure, Molly White, has been climbing to the roof of the Lakewood Ranch Library to check on the building next door. Your Observer reported that the rooftop gives her the best view of the Athletics & Aquatics Center at Premier Sports Campus North, a $44 million, 44,000-square-foot facility that has been under construction since February 2025.
That rooftop can be rented, too. It has about 1,200 square feet of event space and sits on top of a library that has just opened its second floor.
Esplanade at Azario residents reach home by Lorraine Road and 44th Avenue East, and the community already has a heated resort pool, pickleball, tennis and bocce courts, trails, a Culinary Center and the poolside Bahama Bar. Those amenities handle the everyday. The two county buildings on Rangeland Parkway, in the same 34211 ZIP code, are being finished to handle things a neighborhood amenity center usually doesn't. One of them is ready now. The other is aiming for the end of December.
The Floor That Waited Two Years
The Lakewood Ranch Branch Library at 16410 Rangeland Parkway opened in January 2024. Manatee County's library page now leads with a short announcement: "The second floor is now open! Check out the new space and new study rooms."
That floor was in the building from the start. Your Observer's February story described about 25,000 square feet that had sat "plumbed but little else" for nearly two years while commissioners decided what it should be. County offices were one option. In the end the county bought a separate property for those offices, and the whole floor went to the library. Sue Ann Miller, president of the Friends of the Lakewood Ranch Library, told the paper the Friends were "thrilled."
The new floor gives Azario residents three things the clubhouse doesn't:
- Study rooms. The Friends had pushed for small rooms from the beginning. Miller described them as spaces for "student groups, tutoring, private conversations or business needs."
- More shelf room. Library Services Manager Tammy Parrott said the first-floor shelves were already quite full and that adult nonfiction would likely move upstairs. She also said she was seeing readers "rebound to print."
- Open seating. County spokesperson Bill Logan said the second floor would include open areas for reading and working, plus flexible space for meetings and events.
Downstairs, the building already had a quiet reading room, a teen room, a makerspace called The Workshop, a podcast and recording studio, a catering kitchen, a children's outdoor play area and the Friends' Book Nook bookstore. Hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 1 to 6 p.m. Sunday.
What the Campus Adds, Side by Side
The building White has been watching from the roof is at 16350 Rangeland Parkway, right next to the library. Set beside Azario's amenity list, it mostly adds scale and capacity rather than repeating what Azario has.
| Activity | Inside Esplanade at Azario | On Rangeland Parkway |
|---|---|---|
| Swimming | Heated resort pool | Heated 50-meter competition pool plus a therapy pool, free for county residents |
| Pickleball | Courts on the community amenity list | 24 courts, 14 of them covered, with a shaded hitting wall |
| Walking | Community trails | Concrete walking circuit around a pond behind the courts |
| Gatherings | Culinary Center and Bahama Bar | Community room that can be split in two, a catering kitchen, and the library's rentable rooftop |
| Quiet work | Not listed among the community amenities | Library study rooms and second-floor seating |
A Pool Built Because Swim Parents Asked
Manatee County first planned a 25-meter pool. In 2021, swimmers, coaches and parents filled the commission chambers to argue for a 50-meter one, and they won. Your Observer reported that some of them came back this past June just to say thank you. Maggie Mooney of Panther Ridge, whose child swims for the Sarasota Tsunami, told commissioners the pool "will save families countless hours on the road."
Club teams will share the water. The Lakewood Ranch Swim Association Lightning and the Tsunami already split lanes at the John Marble Aquatics Center, and they plan to do the same at Premier. The Parrish Bull Sharks will keep training at the Lincoln Aquatic Center in Palmetto. Public Safety division chief Chet Brown said water polo and underwater hockey teams have also called.
Teams pay to use the pool. Individual swimmers don't. Manatee County does not charge its residents to use county pools, and Brown said there will "always" be space between the two pools for the public alongside the teams. The 50-meter pool and the therapy pool both have pool lifts.
A $1 million geothermal yard, 40 feet by 40 feet, will regulate the water temperature in both pools, which together hold 832,704 gallons. Inside, the main building has locker rooms with showers, first-come lockers, a family room and a covered area for swimmers.
How the Courts Will Work
The pickleball side is set up for players who want a game without joining a league. According to the Bradenton Herald and Your Observer's September walkthrough, it will work like this:
- Some courts will always be set aside for open play. How many depends on the time of day.
- The rest are booked through CourtReserve. White said the county watches that software to see which times are in demand and keeps room for drop-in players.
- Drop-in play costs $5 for two consecutive hours. A monthly membership is $35. White said those prices match G.T. Bray Park.
- The waiting area follows the G.T. Bray model, with artificial turf, tables, benches and paddle racks.
Tennis courts were left out of the final plans. White said the open land behind the pickleball courts could hold them if funding becomes available. For now, that land holds the pond loop.
The December Calendar
The library's new floor is open now. The Athletics & Aquatics Center is the remaining piece. In early October, White told the Bradenton Herald, "We're just working on dates for a grand opening but aiming for the end of December." Planned hours are 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday, and 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends.
By September the main work was done. The pools were full, the courts were painted and the walking trail was poured. What remained was furniture, shade sails and turf for the pickleball waiting area. White described the grand opening she has in mind as a "fun, community celebration," with open play on the courts and local swimmers in the competition pool. Coach Steve Lubrino of the Lightning said the three clubs are planning a swim meet to mark the occasion.
The county also expects two new synthetic soccer fields at Premier Sports Campus North by the end of the year. "We'll be celebrating a lot of things," White said.
The community room is the piece most likely to come up when hosting. It can be booked as one large room or split into two, each with its own TV and access to the catering kitchen, and floor-to-ceiling windows look out over the pools. Once the center opens, that room will be one more place on Rangeland Parkway to host holiday guests, a milestone birthday or a swim-team banquet, with the library rooftop next door as a second option.
If you're weighing how close Azario sits to new public amenities like these, or how they factor into a home's long-term value, Pamela Modisett of Gulf Coast Premier Properties knows this side of Lakewood Ranch street by street and would be glad to talk it through with you. Let's Connect.
