New Northwest Rec Center a last and a first for Cedar Rapids

CEDAR RAPIDS - City and school officials as well as residents and children in the Harrison Elementary School neighborhood broke ground Wednesday for the $4.9 million Northwest Recreation Center next to the school.

Mayor Ron Corbett said the rec center construction was the last of the city's flood recovery projects. It also was a project, he said, that featured a 'lot of ups and downs and twists and turns” as the city and neighborhood attempted to find the right place to build a replacement for the flood-ruined Time Check Recreation Center.

A half-dozen other sites were considered before a divided City Council finally decided on a joint venture with the school district to place the building on school property.

Corbett thanked the school district for sticking with Harrison Elementary School after giving some thought to closing it because so many homes nearby had been destroyed in the Flood of 2008.

The city pushed incentives for new home construction in the neighborhood, and the district has reinvested in the school, Corbett said.

City Manager Jeff Pomeranz said the new rec center is a last and a first - the last flood recovery project and the first brand-new recreation center the city has built. He called the project a 'living example” of how school districts and cities can work together to get things done.

Brad Buck, the school district's new superintendent and a Cedar Rapids native, said Harrison Elementary School is a 'point of pride” for the neighborhood, and he applauded the decision to include architectural features that resemble those of the historic school.

Al Pierson, president of the Northwest Neighbors Neighborhood Association, said the recreation center has been some time in coming, but it was 'worth the wait.”

'It's going to be perfect. It's going to be such a nice addition to the neighborhood,” Pierson said.

The project is being paid for with $2.2 million from Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster funds, $2.2 million in money from the city's local-option sales tax for flood recovery, $500,000 from the school district and $33,900 in other city funds.

The 16,000-square-foot building will feature a gym, community room, kitchen, game room and computer area. It is expected to open next summer.