News Release
Greenbridge Foundation
A partnership of the King County Housing Authority, Boys & Girls Clubs of King County - Southwest Branch, Highline Community College, and Neighborhood House
P.O. Box 46535
Seattle, Washington 98146-0535
For more information contact:
Rhonda Rosenberg, KCHA, Communications Director, (206) 574-1185
July 3 , 2007
REJUVENATED COMMUNITY CENTER WILL GUIDE FAMILIES AND KIDS TO A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
Greenbridge tenants, U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott, King County Councilmember Dow Constantine, State Representatives Eileen Cody and Joe McDermott, members of the Greenbridge Foundation partnership and the White Center community will celebrate the grand re-opening of a vital community facility in White Center. The Jim Wiley Community Center in Greenbridge features a gymnasium, computer lab, homework and adult language classrooms, a kitchen serving thousands of meals for neighborhood kids, and counseling and employment services for youth and families in the White Center community. Sited in Greenbridge, an award-winning sustainably designed community, the Center received a 3-Star Built Green™ certification!
FRIDAY, JULY 6, 2007:
11a.m. to noon
9800 8th Ave. SW, Seattle (White Center) 98106
EXCELLENT PHOTO OPPORTUNITY –
Community Center renovation is photogenic facility
due to green building features, public art and co-location
in the heart of the new Greenbridge redevelopment project and lots and lots of kids!
Also near active ongoing community construction.
White Center - It was a dark and dreary building. With its stone aggregate façade, gray concrete walls, poor ventilation and lack of natural light, the Jim Wiley Community Center offered a cheerless setting for kids and was a neighborhood eyesore to boot. Even so, kids flocked to the utilitarian facility for the recreational and educational opportunities afforded there since there was nowhere else to go.
Spearheaded by the Greenbridge Foundation, a partnership comprised of the King County Housing Authority, Boys & Girls Clubs of King County - Southwest Branch, Neighborhood House and Highline Community College, the Wiley Community Center is now a showpiece of sustainability (it’s earned a 3-Star Built Green ™ certification from the Master Builders of King and Snohomish Counties), a critical resource for families and kids, and a cornerstone of the redeveloping Greenbridge community.
U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott will celebrate the completed renovation of the Jim Wiley Community Center at a grand re-opening event on Friday, July 6 at 11 a.m. The event will be held in Greenbridge Plaza, the community gathering space located on the south side of the building at 9800 Eighth Ave. Southwest in Seattle (White Center).
Other featured speakers at the event include King County Councilmember Dow Constantine, and State Representatives Eileen Cody and Joe McDermott. Additionally, two children from the Boys & Girls Club – Southwest Branch will share their thoughts about the community center.
“This is a terrific day for kids and the community,” said Mark Pursley, president of Greenbridge Foundation. “Already the pulse of Greenbridge, this renovated community center is bringing hope and opportunity to thousands of kids and their families. The Boys & Girls Club, Neighborhood House and the other organizations that provide services here are happy to celebrate the re-opening of this critical facility with local leaders.”
The 22,600 square- foot facility has received a $5 million extreme makeover and now features a gym, computer lab, classrooms for homework assistance and English Language Learner classes, a commercial kitchen, community rooms, social services counseling offices and a career development center. Previously surrounded by parking on all sides, the Center now fronts a brand new plaza and community gathering space that will shortly boast retail frontages on Eighth Avenue. The facility was designed by Tonkin/Hoyne/Lokan Architecture & Urban Design as was the Plaza, which was designed in consultation with The Berger Partnership. Construction was overseen by the King County Housing Authority. Synergy was the general contractor. The Wiley Center is located on Eighth Avenue Southwest in White Center, in the heart of Greenbridge, an innovative mixed-income community that, when completed in 2012, will provide an array of affordable housing choices, parks and trails, and shops and services to a mix of households with very-low to moderate incomes. The King County Housing Authority is developing the master planned community on the site of the former Park Lake Homes public housing project.
The rejuvenated Wiley Center offers a stunning contrast to the dark, outdated structure built in 1980. The renovation truly transformed the original edifice. Where formerly kids scrambled to find appropriate space to do their homework assignments because classrooms were so small and dark, kids now enjoy several spacious, natural light-filled rooms; where stuffy, hot conditions and smelly air from the gym permeated the rest of the building, an open-air cupola provides fresh air and steady ventilation (and exterior visual interest); where corridors were dismal, labyrinthine and unsecured, public art surprises and delights in secure passageways. An adjacent plaza is a dynamic social gathering space, with its first solstice gathering celebrated two weeks ago.
“Green” features include the cupola, which regulates airflow and ventilation, a hydronic heat system, solar panels and a number of energy and water efficiency features. Additionally, a crumbling parking lot adjacent to the Center was eliminated to create an attractive community plaza, also a green feature. The plaza covers a water quality vault that treats dirty storm water before discharging it into the natural downstream watercourse. The Jim Wiley Community Center was recently certified at the 3-Star Built Green™ level by the Master Builders of King and Snohomish Counties.
Said King County Executive Ron Sims, “The Jim Wiley Community Center is a key piece in the Greenbridge redevelopment effort. This great, new, ‘green’ space continues the commitment to build a strong, healthy, sustainable community.”
King County Councilmember Dow Constantine said, “Greenbridge just keeps expanding the resources available to the White Center community and I’m proud to be a partner in this venture. Given the limited public dollars available, it’s great to see the Housing Authority, nonprofit agencies, charitable foundations, business and the local community working together to help improve the futures and enrich the lives of many of our poorest families. It’s these partnerships and diversity that makes White Center such a special community.”
King County Housing Authority Board Chair and Greenbridge Foundation member Nancy Holland-Young is thrilled by the community’s overwhelmingly positive response to the new Wiley Center. Said Holland-Young, “Combined with the new school, and the library and early learning center to come, this Center promises support and a chance for successful, productive lives for coming generations for children. It will serve as a catalyst for youngsters to develop healthy lifestyles, get academic tutoring and learn leadership skills. It allows families to get the support they need to become self-sufficient.”
The Greenbridge Foundation was established by the Boys & Girls Clubs of King County – Southwest Branch, King County Housing Authority, Highline Community College and Neighborhood House to secure the resources necessary to redevelop the Center and assure ongoing opportunities that support strong and healthy families through education, recreation and economic self-sufficiency. Funding for the Center was provided through government support, a community capital campaign and an innovative financing approach that leveraged a private equity investment from WaMu through the sale of federal New Markets Tax Credits.
Driving Directions:
From I-5, take Exit 162 for South Michigan Street. Turn right onto Michigan Street. After about a mile, follow signs for First Avenue Bridge. (Look for signs to merge onto WA-509 South.) Cross the bridge and take second exit, for Myers Way/Olson Place SW. Follow Olson Place uphill. Veer right onto SW Roxbury Street. Turn left onto Eighth Avenue SW. Parking will be available along 8th Avenue between Roxbury and 100th, in the Jim Wiley Community Center parking lot, and at the White Center Heights Elementary School.