Four years after a tornado destroyed a neighborhood community center, officials in Springfield, Massachusetts are seeking construction bids to build a new center.
The city plans to build the new South End Community Center in a park several blocks from the building that was hit by the tornado on June 1,2011. General contractors have until July 31st to submit competing bids for the project, which has an estimated cost of $9.2 million. Construction is scheduled to begin by September.
Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno said he is excited to see the project go out to bid because it is another step forward in the city’s recovery from the disaster.
" Ninety-nine percent of the tornado-ravaged areas have been accounted for, either rebuilt or the plan is there to start the bricks and mortar," said Sarno.
This is a special project for Sarno, who served as executive director of the center before his election as mayor in 2007.
The original South End Community Center was in a former state armory building on Howard Street. The new center will be in a two-story building with a gymnasium, exercise room, offices, and multi-purpose rooms.
The center will be built in Emerson Wight Park which was recently renovated and expanded. A nearby complex of apartment buildings has undergone a multi-million dollar renovation. The city has torn down several blighted buildings and fixed up streets and sidewalks in the neighborhood.
Sarno said the community center will fit right in.
"This is important because it is also a big part of the puzzle with cutting down public safety problems. ( The center) keeps our young people involved in something positive," said Sarno.
The city plans to buy the Marble Street Apartments from the Springfield Housing Authority, relocate the 46 families, and tear down the buildings to put in a parking lot for the community center.
Sarno said the public housing development is antiquated and isolated at the end of a dead-end street.
Officials with U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) were briefed on the city’s plans for the new community center earlier this year during a tour to highlight tornado recovery work. Springfield received more than $40 million from the federal government for disaster relief following the tornado.
During a stop at Emerson Wight Park, Robert Shumeyko of HUD said the city’s recovery has been well thought out.
" There was a lot of emphasis at the community level and that has resulted in these really holistic projects we see and the rebuilding effort which has been one of the more successful in terms of disaster rebuilding," he said.
In the immediate aftermath of the tornado four years ago, advocates for the poor said they feared the city would not replace the housing for low income people that was destroyed. Kristina Foye, Deputy Regional Director of HUD said she sees no evidence the city is discriminating against the poor in its tornado recovery work.
" The efforts they've undertaken so far have been outstanding," she said.
The city also plans to reconfigure traffic patterns in the South End to eliminate a number of one-way and dead-end streets.
