Revitalized: Community center in east LV set to open

Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2002 | 10:56 a.m.

Once a rundown part of town infested with gangs, crime and the blight of decaying structures, a portion of eastern Las Vegas is beginning something of a renaissance.

The catalyst, city officials say, came in 1998, when the old National Guard Armory at 250 N. Eastern Ave. was demolished and construction began on the 40,488-square-foot East Las Vegas Community Center/Senior Center.

That $8 million hacienda-style facility opens with a 5 p.m. VIP ceremony today -- the culmination of city officials' dream of a new heart for the city's eastern neighborhoods.

En route to fruition, the land underwent cleanup of contamination by petroleum and heavy metals, and the dream survived a challenge by other interests that wanted control of the city-owned land for different purposes.

"This area has been revitalized," said Sharon Segerblom, director of the city's Neighborhood Services Department, noting that since the late 1990s, the Rafael Rivera Community Center opened, a new Sunrise Acre Elementary School and soccer fields have been built and area apartments are being rehabilitated.

"This beautiful building that will meet many of the area's needs, like meeting rooms, classes for seniors and ballroom dancing, brings it all together," she said.

Questions arose in 1998 as to how badly the property had been damaged by years of exposure to toxic chemicals from the armory's heavy equipment, like tanks and trucks.

However, a $200,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency's Brownfields program was used to locate and clean up what turned out to be small, shallow pockets of contamination, mostly around pillars, officials said.

Segerblom said the military had taken pretty good care of the land, with most of the vehicle maintenance done on concrete areas, preventing extensive environmental ground damage.

It marked the first time a Brownfields grant, which is designed to eliminate environmental obstacles to real estate development in abandoned or under-used industrial or commercial areas, was awarded to a Nevada city.

Brownfields sites do not qualify as Superfund toxic waste sites, because they do not pose serious public health risks to communities.

Before environmental concerns arose, private businesses and other government agencies saw different potential for the site. Among them were the state of Nevada, which wanted the land for a Highway Patrol station, and the Clark County School District, which hoped to extend the adjacent bus yard.

"A hundred different business groups and organizations wanted it, but I said no," Las Vegas City Councilman Gary Reese said, noting he was getting calls before the National Guard signed the quitclaim deed to the armory in December 1997 to relocate to a new facility near Nellis Air Force Base.

Reese, in whose ward the center sits, said some entities were not happy with his answer and went to other council members to attempt to win their support. Reese said other council members agreed with the concept he supported.

"Some businessmen told me it would take so long to get a project like this for this area that there was no way I would live to see this dream come true," Reese said.

While touring the final stages of construction this week, Reese said the tone for building quality projects like the center in Ward 3 can be traced to the Desert Pines Golf Course, a privately built public facility that opened in December 1996, replacing Nature Park, a weed-filled area that attracted vagrants.

"The golf course succeeded in raising the development standards for the area," said Reese, the mayor pro tem. "No longer were the residents of this area going to accept projects that the newer areas of town didn't want or that some developers thought they could foist on Ward 3.

"New projects had to be of high quality. And this center is one of the nicest new structures in all of Clark County."

The facility features two distinct attractions -- a huge ballroom that can be sectioned off to hold several events at one time, like crafts fairs or farmers markets, and a centralized gazebo in a large courtyard.

The center also features a ceramics and pottery room with a kiln, a music room, a recording studio, a weaving room, an aerobics dance room, conference rooms and offices.

"We will have everything from computer classrooms to a Hispanic art gallery to a senior hot lunch program from the center's kitchen operation," Barbara Jackson, director of the city's Department of Leisure Services, said.

"A number of the rooms can be used for many purposes from meetings to bridge games. But the community eventually will determine the direction this center will take. The programs we are opening with now could be different from those we are offering a year from now, depending on what services people want."

Tonight's private event features mariachi bands and costumed folkloric dancers to accentuate both the Spanish-style architecture and the area's high Hispanic population.

The center will open with public tours Thursday through Saturday beginning daily at 10 a.m. The center will be closed on Sundays and Mondays. The first classes are expected to begin Tuesday. For more information about tours or classes, call Leisure Services at 229-6297

The project, designed by JMA Architecture Studios, was built with $8 million in Community Development Block Grant funds. The bonds are scheduled to be repaid with federal grant money over 10 years.

At tonight's ceremony, JMA is scheduled to present a check for $15,000 to the city to start an art fund for the facility. The city will conduct a national search for a Hispanic artist to create a 1,000-square-foot mural on the north side of the center.