By Leslie Collins
Northeast News
Jan. 26, 2011

For years, the Historic Northeast community has struggled to maintain a community center.

Now, with the help of a $2.5 million Economic Development Initiative (EDI) grant, the future Northeast Community Center is inching one step closer to construction.

“We feel like whenever we’ve done these community centers, they become magnets in the community,” said Mark McHenry, director of Kansas City’s Parks and Recreation Department. “They become a gathering place for people of all ages.”

Years ago, the Northeast Community Center was located at 7th and Norton, but that building became too small and didn’t serve the needs of the community, McHenry said.

Then, the center relocated to 4012 E. 10th St. and finally to the Lykins neighborhood, where it became the Lykins Center.

“It really became functionally obsolete,” McHenry said of the Lykins Center. “The size was really never adequate and there were environmental issues associated with it.”

In 2004, the center closed and since then, it’s left a void in the Northeast community.

In a 2007 feasibility study, 9th and VanBrunt was deemed an ideal location for construction.

The location used to house the Kansas City Transportation Authority, which is now located at 18th and Paseo.

The site spans 12.4 acres and the proposed building will total 50,000 square feet.

With the help from city sales tax appropriations and the EDI grant, construction of the “site development” phase will begin in approximately 40 to 45 days, McHenry said.

Site development includes constructing three soccer fields, including one regulation-size field with astroturf, a parking lot, small concession stand and amphitheater.

“There’s a real demand for soccer in the Northeast area,” he said. “There’s probably 50 different languages spoken in the Northeast area.

“A lot of people that live in the area have their roots in the African and South American nations.

“Their culture is driven by the game of soccer.”

In addition to the soccer fields, the site will also include a walking trail through a landscaped park.

The site development phase is slated for completion by the end of 2011.

Finding funding to construct the main building is another obstacle.

“We just have to find the money,” McHenry said. “We don’t have the resources identified yet.”

Sources could include state, city or federal funds, he said.

Currently, the Northeast Community Center project is a collaborate effort between the area neighborhood associations, Council District 3, the Kansas City Parks and Recreation Department Board and the Kansas City Parks and Recreation Department.

Proposed amenities for the community center building include a fitness room, elevated track, swimming pool, gymnasium, catering kitchen, meeting rooms, multipurpose rooms, among others.

“There’s clearly a need,” McHenry said, “and once we build the site development (package), it can really be a positive economic development for the area around the site.”