by Dennis Dalman
editor@thenewsleaders.com
It’s been such a long time coming that finally the sound of scraping shovels was a reminder that a Sartell Community Center is a soon-to-be reality.
At 11:30 a.m. Oct. 11, officials gathered at the south Sartell site for a groundbreaking on the community-center site. Actually, the footings for the building were installed earlier, so the groundbreaking was a bit after-the-fact, a ceremony that brought the center’s movers and shakers together.
The Sartell Community Center will house three gymnasiums, locker rooms, a kids’ play area, an elevated walking track, community meeting rooms, a senior center and an innovation area where people can study or plug into computerized software. It’s also likely to contain a locker system where materials from the St. Cloud-based Great River Regional Library system can be dropped off and returned by library patrons who live in Sartell.
The center, located at the edge of Lake Francis (a large holding pond), is expected to be completed sometime in August.
The center was the focus of much controversy for the past year or so because many in the city wanted a full-service branch library in the center or a more-centralized location for the center. But planners, including three members of the city council, decided the south Sartell site without a full library was the best way to go.
“We are very thrilled the community center is beginning construction,” said Sartell Mayor Sarah Jane Nicoll, one of the officials who attended the groundbreaking.
The center, at a cost of about $11 million, will be paid for by revenue from the regional half-cent sales tax, which Sartell residents approved twice via ballot referenda.
HMA Architects designed the facility; Strack Construction will oversee the construction.
To take a virtual-reality tour of an artist’s conception of the center, go to https://vimeo.com/170206899.
Officials gathered for a groundbreaking Oct. 11 at the site of the future Sartell Community Center at 850 19th St. S. in Sartell. Those wielding shovels are (left to right) Lyle Mathiasen, operations consultant; Mike Nielson, city engineer, Colleen Teste, Strack Construction; Murray Mack, HMA Architects; Steve Hennes, Sartell City Council member; Tim Gillett, HMA Architects; Pat Lynch, Sartell City Council member; Sarah Jane Nicoll, Sartell mayor; Mary Degiovanni, Sartell administrator; David Peterson, Sartell City Council member; Judy Morgan, Sartell Senior Connection; Bob Strack, Strack Construction; Ron Hurd, Sartell Senior Connection; Jan Sorell, Sartell Senior Connection; and Glen Huls, Strack Construction.
