Work to build the new, 34,000-square-foot Stupak Community Center is starting soon. Mayor Pro Tem Gary Reese, who represents this area in Ward 3, plans to celebrate the start of the project with a groundbreaking ceremony at 3 p.m., Monday, August 18.

The new $7.5 million community center will be built on the site of the existing Chester A. Stupak Park that is located across from the current Stupak Community Center at 300 West Boston Avenue. The park closed last week.

The project includes demolition of the park to make way for the new 34,183-square-foot community center. The two-story building will feature an indoor multi-sport gym, classrooms, a kitchen, library, arts classroom, weight fitness and aerobics rooms, and a game room.

Construction begins this week and will take place Monday through Friday during daytime hours. The project will take approximately 14 months to complete.

In August 2007, the Las Vegas City Council unanimously awarded Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds to construct the new community center. Capacity has long been exceeded at the existing 8,190-square-foot center that offers English as a Learning Language (ELL) classes, before and after school activities, back-to-school events, youth and adult programs, and a meeting place for the Gateway District Neighborhood Association and Stupak Youth Council. The old center will stay open during construction to minimize disruption of services to the community.

“The Stupak Center is now and always will be, an integral part of the Meadows Village community. Neighbors rely on the Stupak Center as a social gathering place and a center for learning,” Councilman Reese said. “Hundreds of students participate in the ELL and citizenship classes at this facility that we’ve clearly outgrown, and I look forward to the opening of our new, bigger and better community center.”

Meadows Village is located behind the Stratosphere Hotel/Casino. The neighborhood includes a high percentage of households that qualify as low-income.

Richardson Construction is the contractor for the project. The city of Las Vegas Department of Public Works is providing project oversight. The Department of Neighborhood Services secured and will administer the federal funds for construction of the center. The Department of Leisure Services will program activities and events when the new Stupak Community Center is completed.

Who:   Mayor Pro Tem Reese and other officials
What:   Celebrate the start of the Stupak Community Center Project
When:  3 p.m., Monday, August 18, 2008
Where:  Boston Avenue, east of Tam Drive
Editor’s note:  Limited on street parking is available on Boston Avenue

New Community Center Site