Expectations ran sky high Tuesday afternoon as City officials broke ground on the long-anticipated Activity Center/Gymnasium at the north end of Les Gove Park.
Parks, Arts and Recreation Director Daryl Faber said the 9,910-square-foot center, immediately east of the Senior Activity Center, will serve youth and teens primarily, but seniors may also use it during the day for activities such as volleyball. Indeed, he said, it can be anything from an indoor playground in the morning for 3-year-olds to after-school programs to adult and teen and youth sports leagues.
“It’s something that’s really needed,” Faber said of the center. “It’s so hard to cooperate and get into other people’s facilities when you need ’em, so this is going to be outstanding for children of all ages.”
Noting the Barrier-free Playground under construction a stone’s throw away and all the other amenities, Faber added that he hopes the surrounding park will become “the Central Park of Auburn.”
“This is truly about creating a community campus,” said Auburn Mayor Pete Lewis.
Christensen Inc. of Tumwater recently was awarded the $2.9 million contract to build the Activity Center/Gymnasium as follows:
• The venue, providing a place for activities such as basketball, pickle ball, volleyball, dance, exercise and indoor soccer for all ages.
• Numerous site improvements to the nearby Parks, Arts and Recreation Administration building (PRAB), among them, two required restrooms and a new sprinkler system.
• An integrated climbing wall and canopy connecting the gymnasium to the Auburn Senior Activities Center.
• Building of an exterior concrete plaza to connect the south side of the Activity Center/Gymnasium, the PRAB and Senior Center, providing outside activity and relaxation space and access to the climbing wall and bike racks. The plaza will provide access to the Les Gove Park walking paths. The PRAB will one day be turned into a teen or youth center but those improvements aren’t included in the present contract.
• Reconstruction of the existing access driveway and parking lot to provide 69 parking spaces and room for 28 future spaces.
Plans for the Les Gove Community Campus also call for a 20,100-square-foot, $8.9 million community center on the park’s south end. City officials originally had proposed building the community center first in the summer of 2010, but economic realities forced a reshuffling of construction plans.
The Federal Way and Auburn Boys and Girls Club, which runs a site at Firwood Circle for King County Housing Authority and a before-and-after-school program at Arthur Jacobsen Elementary School, is a partner in the project and will occupy the current Parks, Arts and Recreation Administration Building when the department moves to the Community Center.
“We want to work in Auburn to help the kids,” said Shelley Puariea, executive director for the Federal Way and Auburn Boys and Girls Club.
The Boys and Girls Club has obtained an $800,0000 youth recreational facilities capital grant from the Commerce Department of the state of Washington to help pay for construction. For ongoing costs, the club will rely on fundraising and fees. The club plans to apply for two more grants.
“There will be an educational component for teens and tweens in the area,” Puariea said of plans for the administration building. “We’ll have a computer lab, a study area for homework help, a games room for social recreation and the gym for physical education.”
