Damage from the storm exacerbated existing issues, causing a closure and
Hurricane Irma’s winds and rains may have long passed, but at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Recreation Center, the powerful storm’s effects will be felt going into the new year.
As far as city-owned facilities go, the MLK Center was hit the hardest. Issues with mold and water infiltration that were seen as minor and manageable in the decades-old building were heightened in the days following the storm’s strike. Four days passed before the rec center was able to get power back. Four days during which moisture was trapped in the building, saturating ceiling tiles and acting as an incubator for mold.
The city had planned to reopen the center Sept. 18, the week after the storm, when staff noticed the issue.
“We were gearing up to get back going when we realized the problem and said, ‘nope,’” Recreation and Parks Director Jack Holland said. “(The storm) set up the perfect environment for this stuff.”
It’s a pretty major problem, according to Assistant City Manager Bill McDaniel, but one he said the city is on top of.
“Everybody makes use of that building,” McDaniel said. “We need to get it back up ASAP.”
Most adult classes at the center had to be canceled, but youth programs, like the after-school program, relocated nearly 40 children to the Planteen Recreation Center.
Efforts to repair the building are quickly underway and a high priority for McDaniel. He said the repairs to the center could cost between $150,000 and $250,000. The building now needs to be analyzed by experts and bid out to contractors before a price will be finalized and a plan presented to the City Commission. McDaniel said he is pushing to have it reopened in 90 days.
“I’ll probably be told we can’t do it, but we’re going to try,” he said. “It’s a pretty tall order.”
It’s not for a lack of wanting the center back up, but an issue of bad timing, McDaniel said. In general, construction timelines can be quite fluid, with the addition of the coming holiday season, weeks of potential work time could be lost.
In the meantime, the city has already come up with contingency plans for events scheduled at the MLK Rec Center. The annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Festival will still be held on the center’s grounds, just not inside the building, with some portions of the festival to be held at Marshall Middle School. Holland said February’s Black Heritage Festival is looking to relocate downtown.
McDaniel and Holland said they’d be shocked if the rec center was still closed in 160 days, but 120 could be more realistic than the ambitious 90-day plan. Whatever the timeline, getting the doors open to the Lincoln Park community hub will be a priority, holiday season or not.
“It’s an ASAP matter no matter what,” Holland said.
