McGriff Park — Palm Bay, Florida

McGriff Park is a City of Palm Bay community park at 1146 DeGroodt Rd SW, Palm Bay 32908, open from 7am until 10pm, with the city listing (321) 952-3443 as its phone number.

The address, the phone number and the 7am to 10pm hours all come from the McGriff Park entry in the City of Palm Bay facility directory (City of Palm Bay, McGriff Park). The same (321) 952-3443 number appears in the City Parks directory for many other Palm Bay parks, including Pollak Park on Turkey Creek (City of Palm Bay, City Parks directory).

McGriff Park is on DeGroodt Road in southwest Palm Bay, in the 32908 ZIP code. The Palm Bay Parks and Facilities Department lists its administration office on the same road, at 1150 DeGroodt Rd. SW, Palm Bay 32908, phone (321) 726-2777 (City of Palm Bay, Parks and Facilities). The Palm Bay Paintball Park is a separate city facility at 770 Hurricane St SW, with its own phone number, (772) 380-4949 (City of Palm Bay, City Parks directory).

The McGriff Park directory entry lists parking, restrooms, water fountains, benches, a concrete walkway, grills, picnic tables and free Wi-Fi, along with a pavilion that the DeGroodt Road park rents out (City of Palm Bay, McGriff Park).

No: the City of Palm Bay closed McGriff Skate Park beginning October 5, 2026 for repairs and recoating of its ramps and structures, and expects to reopen it in December 2026, weather and project conditions permitting.

The closure notice is posted under Recreation Announcements on the Palm Bay Recreation Department page, which gives the skate park address as 1146 De Groodt Rd SW and asks the public to respect closure signs and remain outside the work area (City of Palm Bay Recreation Department). The same page carried the news item headed McGriff Skate Park to Close Temporarily for Rehabilitation Beginning October 5, dated September 28, 2026.

This is not the first shutdown of the McGriff bowl. Minutes of the Palm Bay Recreation Advisory Board meeting of August 1, 2023 record that contractors began repairing the bowl on July 31 and that the park would be closed until completion (Recreation Advisory Board minutes, August 1, 2023). The 2026 work covers the ramps and structures rather than only the bowl.

The skate park closure does not list the rest of McGriff Park as closed. The announcement names McGriff Skate Park and its work area; the playground, pavilion and nature trail are not mentioned in the October 2026 notice on the Palm Bay Recreation Department page (City of Palm Bay Recreation Department).

McGriff Park pairs an urban skate park with rails, ramps, steps and a bowl with a Nexus playground built for children aged 7 to 14, alongside a nature trail, a playfield and a large pavilion with restrooms.

The City of Palm Bay describes the McGriff skate terrain as designed and built by American Ramp Company with its Pro-Terrain line, and says input from local skaters was considered in its design (City of Palm Bay, McGriff Park). The same page calls the skate park Brevard County's newest outdoor skate facility; the city page gives no year for that description.

The McGriff Nexus play structure is described by the city as designed and engineered to attract and challenge more sophisticated tweens, kids between the ages of 7 and 14. Its listed features are a mini climbing wall, scramble nets and spinning wheels (City of Palm Bay, McGriff Park). The directory marks the McGriff playground as shaded.

McGriff Park honors the memory of Palm Bay High School All-American James McGriff, and the City of Palm Bay built it with matching funds from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the Florida Recreation Development Assistance Program.

Both points come from the About McGriff Skate Park text on the city facility page, which says the park was created with matching funds obtained through grants awarded to the City of Palm Bay (City of Palm Bay, McGriff Park). The page does not give the grant amounts or the year of the award, and no dedication date is posted with it.

The Florida Recreation Development Assistance Program that helped pay for McGriff Park is run by the Land and Recreation Grants staff of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. FDEP describes it as a competitive, reimbursement grant program that provides financial assistance for acquisition or development of land for public outdoor recreation, and says the maximum grant request may not exceed $200,000 (Florida DEP, FRDAP). Palm Bay, as a municipality, is an eligible applicant under those rules.

Palm Bay's FY 2025 to 2029 capital plan schedules a McGriff Park skate park replacement at $60,000 in 2027 and $900,000 in 2028, and the FY 2027 department requests include $800,000 for McGriff Skate Park ramp replacement.

The Master Capital Improvement Plan for FY 2025 to 2029 lists McGriff Park skate park replacement under Parks and Facilities, funded from the General Fund (fund 001), as a priority 2 asset preservation or replacement project, for a total of $960,000 (City of Palm Bay CIP FY 2025 to 2029, page 5).

The FY 2027 Proposed Budget for the City of Palm Bay prints a listing of all FY 2027 budget requests submitted by departments, and points readers to a separate section for the requests that were funded (FY 2027 Proposed Budget, page 87). In that Parks and Facilities list, a McGriff Playground request is $200,000 (FY 2027 Proposed Budget, page 88), McGriff Skate Park Ramp Replacement is $800,000, and DeGroodt/McGriff Park Parking and Warehouse Expansion is $63,000 (FY 2027 Proposed Budget, page 89). A request in this listing is not the same as an approved project.

Ideas for McGriff Park have also come from the public. At the Palm Bay Recreation Advisory Board meeting of November 1, 2022, a resident spoke about placing a cement pump track on unused space at the park, aimed at shared, safe spaces for skaters of different levels, and was told the petition could be presented at a City Council meeting (Recreation Advisory Board minutes, November 1, 2022). The minutes record no board action on the idea.

McGriff Park users skate and ride at their own risk under rules posted by the City of Palm Bay, and the park's large pavilion with electric rents for $90 a day plus tax.

The McGriff rules warn that skateboarding, inline skating, paintball and freestyle or off-road bicycling are hazardous recreational activities, that users have a duty to exercise good judgment and obey oral and written warnings, and that any rule violation results in immediate ejection from the park and may bring long-term loss of facility privileges (City of Palm Bay, McGriff Park). The city states that it does not assume responsibility for those risks.

On the Palm Bay Recreation Rentals page, McGriff sits in the large pavilion with electric tier with Fred Lee #1, Goode and Knecht #1, all at $90 a day plus tax (City of Palm Bay Recreation Rentals). Palm Bay pavilions are available 7 days a week from dawn to dusk, renters are subject to pre-approval, and contracts are required for all rentals.

For more information on renting the McGriff pavilion, the city lists the Tony Rosa Community Center at (321) 952-3443 and the Ted Whitlock Community Center at (321) 952-3231, offers online pavilion rental, and says reservations are first come, first served and generally accepted up to one year in advance (City of Palm Bay Recreation Rentals). Last verified: October 12, 2026, on the City of Palm Bay website pages for McGriff Park and Recreation Rentals.