Here’s how a $6.5M renovation will transform the aging MLK Jr. Center in Pasco
Nolan Harper’s life changed around the time he was 12.
The young Pasco boy was invited one day by a group to the East Pasco Neighborhood Facilities gym for a game of basketball.
He went in unsure of his athleticism. But after someone told him he was pretty good at hoops, he left with a whole new perspective and confidence.
“I had no interest in sports, but that changed everything,” said the city of Pasco’s lead recreation specialist.
Harper went on to attend the University of Idaho on a football scholarship and played a year professionally in the Canadian Football League for the Toronto Argonauts.
He returned to the east Pasco facility in the early ‘90s to work for the YMCA of the Greater Tri-Cities to nurture kids’ interests in sports and other activities.
Over the decades, thousands of Pasco children have filtered through the facility now called the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center, south of Virgie Robinson Elementary on Wehe Avenue.
Since its construction in the ‘70s, the center has served as a haven for children living in the low-income neighborhoods around Kurtzman Park. And it’s definitely showing its age.
But soon, the city-owned rec center will see its most substantial facelift ever.
The city is planning a $6.5 million renovation and expansion over the next two years. The revitalized space will bring much-needed improvements and allow for more programs.
After two years spent finding money for the project, Pasco will spend the next year designing and getting public comments on what the renovated center should look like.
“It’s a pretty well-used, decades-old facility, but it needs refurbishments,“ said Zach Ratkai, the city’s administrative and community services director.
“The importance to the city is it represents a community gathering place, and a place for youth to go to enrich their lives,” he said.
Between the YMCA and Benton Franklin Head Start programs, the center currently serves about 3,000 K-12 students and youths annually.
A game room, gymnasium, weight room, homework center and computer lab currently make up the YMCA’s half of the building. The other half is used for Head Start programming, including a part-time preschool.
Lost history
The memories are fuzzy, but the images of Pasco’s history remain vivid and on display in the center’s recreation room and computer labs.
A 36-panel art piece, entitled “Weaving a Life Together,” shows historic community moments in black and white interlaced with colorful art. It was created by Leadership Tri-Cities.
Harper points out the photos during a rent tour — one a football action shot of his brother, another a Civil Rights demonstration.
“I really would feel very disappointed if this all came down, because there is that sense of history,” said Steve Howland, executive director for the Tri-Cities YMCA. “I’d want to do everything we could to keep this because it’s a good visual, and it’s bright.”
Though the history of the center is long, its not well chronicled before the city took it over in the ‘90s. Howland and Harper agree there needs to be work done to better tell the building and the Y’s intertwined history.
The Y, which has called the building home for about 40 years, had its programming funded up until a decade ago through the United Way of Benton and Franklin Counties. Today, its mostly subsidized through community contributions.
“I’m really looking forward to seeing what the city comes up with in their final design phase and then how we fit into it,” Howland said.
Last leg funding
A renovation of the 22,000-square-foot MLK center, including expansion, is expected to cost the city of Pasco about $6.5 million.
About $1 million is coming from a capital projects appropriation from the state Legislature during the 2021 session.
And Washington U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced last week about $3 million in federal money will go toward the project.
“One way that I can fight for people in Washington state is by fighting for direct funding for local projects right here in Central Washington. I know just how much of a difference the money for the Martin Luther King Community Center will make,” Murray said in a statement to the Herald.
“This will be a space for kids to come and use the internet, where Head Start will be able to run programs in safe and modern classroom. It’ll help fund a business development center to support our veterans, and so much more,” she added.
And the final $2.5 million is expected to come from some American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds the city has remaining.
During an virtual community forum with Murrray, Mayor Pro Tem Craig Maloney called the project a “key link” to a number of investments aimed at improving equity and access in Pasco.
“This was asked for by Consejo Latino, one of our local Latino advocacy groups, as well as the Collective Black Voice, a collaboration of our Black voices and community members across the city of Pasco,” Maloney told the Senator.
“This is both something that’s near and dear to us as a city for important upgrades, but it’s also been strongly requested by people who are representing and speaking for those who are maybe not always heard in the decision making in the city,” he added.
Ratkai said the city looked at the possibility of demolishing the Martin Luther King Jr. Center and starting from scratch on a new facility, but found it would be more cost effective to substantially renovate the building and expand it.
New programs
In addition to adding on to the building, the renovation would bring with it opportunities to add new programs and expand current ones, as well as creating new recreational and educational spaces.
“I think during COVID we saw a lot of needs for kids who were doing homework from home, but didn’t have reliable internet,” Ratkai said.
Technology upgrades, safety improvements, new ADA-accessible infrastructure and better visibility are all currently in the works.
The city also is looking at adding a police substation and a resources officer inside the facility.
Ratkai said they’re also in talks with Mid-Columbia Libraries to operate small programs and a possible mini library there.
The east Pasco neighborhood could see lots of changes with the opening of Amazon’s two new distribution warehouses nearby later this year, and those new families may influence needs at the center.
However, Howland doesn’t predict any major changes for now.
“We’re going to have to wait and see what that does,” he said.
Project timeline
Pasco City Manger Dave Zabell said he expects the city will select a consultant in June, with community outreach between July and September to hear what neighbors want at the center.
The design of the renovations will be complete by February 2023, with groundbreaking expected that April.
The new and improved Martin Luther King Jr. Center would then open in February 2024.
This story was originally published March 21, 2022 at 12:58 PM.
