HomeNews Wytheville opens long-awaited community center
Wytheville opens long-awaited community center
The $17 million spread has convention spaces, athletic courts and an indoor
pool.
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(276) 228-4752
WYTHEVILLE -- Steve Moore couldn't seem to stop grinning.
Moore, Wytheville's assistant town manager, was showing people through
Wytheville's new $17 million-plus meeting and recreation center. It has been
completed after nearly two decades of plans, false starts and bringing together
a potpourri of funding partners.
Mayor Trent Crewe said Moore
was the point man in bringing all the diverse elements of the project together.
"It's taken many years and many twists and turns," Crewe
said.
But it's a done deal now, having opened for an invitation-only preview
Thursday, to the public Saturday and continuing today through Wednesday with
afternoon and evening tours.
No wonder Moore
is smiling.
He's not the only one.
Vice Mayor Jackie King has been on Wytheville Town Council for 15 years, and
a new community center has been a hot topic for much of that time, she said.
The town has had a smaller, basic community center downtown on Fourth Street for
more than 30 years, but its leaders badly wanted something more.
"More" now means a 2,000-square-foot indoor swimming area,
4,000-square-foot cardio and fitness area, sports facilities including courts
for basketball and racquetball, and space catering to groups from young people
to seniors. The whole building covers 104,000 square feet.
Wytheville, located at the crossing of Interstates 81 and 77, has seen a
burst of growth. Plant openings in recent years include a $140 million PepsiCo
Inc. production plant, a $105 million Amcor PET Packaging plant and a $140
million Gatorade production and distribution facility. Wythe County's
job levels had grown by 6 percent over five years before those companies even
started.
It would seem a good locale for conventions and other large meetings, but
despite Wythe County's 1,300-plus motel rooms, there
was no facility for such gatherings. Now there is, and Rosa Lee Jude, town
tourism director, said it has already been booked for 25 days in April and more
dates the rest of the year.
Gwen Duncan, meeting services scheduler, can be contacted toll-free at (866)
694-8287 or by e-mail at
.
Moore said
the town added 30 employees to staff the facility.
Center plans took many forms over the years. In 1992, there was going to be
a partnership between the town and Wythe
County Community
Hospital to revamp the
downtown center to handle a few hundred people.
A more ambitious plan took shape when Bill Snyder, a former Wytheville Community College president, helped talk
the state community colleges board into donating land on the campus for the
center. Current President Charlie White said the child development center in
the facility will not only offer low-cost child care but serve as a laboratory
for an early childhood development curriculum starting in May.
The federal rural development agency provided more than $14 million in
funding for the center. The Wythe-Bland Community Foundation provided $2.5
million. The Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization
Commission kicked in more than $90,000 for projectors, wireless Internet and
other equipment. The Virginia
Department of Housing
& Community Development added $700,000 toward the child care center, which
Community Developer Joe Blevins said would allow parents to go to both classes
and jobs.
BurWil Construction built the facility, and Worley Associates was the
architect. Ron Worley said Wytheville officials were the "most tenacious"
group with which he ever dealt in their determination to bring the elements of
the center together. "They just never gave up," he said. "This
is the most outstanding project our firm has ever done."
