Community Center Feted

By MANNY GAMALLO

$4.3 million facility features gym, banquet hall

SAND SPRINGS — The newest symbol of this city’s energy — the Case Community Center — was dedicated Tuesday with the snip of a giant pair of scissors slicing across a glistening purple ribbon.

State and local officials were joined by community leaders and residents for the dedication.

Afterward, they toured the $4.3 million center, which sits on 10 acres west of Oklahoma 97 along Wekiwa Road, on the south side of the Sand Springs Expressway.

The 26,000-square-foot center features a gymnasium, an elevated walking track, a multipurpose dance and aerobics room, a room to practice golf swings, conference rooms and banquet space, and offices for the Parks and Recreation Department.

The center was built to allow for expansion of its gym and floor space.

Possible plans call for the addition of a playground, a splash pad, or a skateboard feature.

Many of those who toured the center Tuesday were visibly impressed, not only by the amenities offered, but also by its novel design.

“It doesn’t look like a community center at all,” one visitor said.

The center opened two weeks ago, and many activities already have been held there.

During the dedication, women were doing aerobics, and basketball players from Charles Page High School were shooting hoops in the gym.

Part of the center’s funding came from a $3.3 million bond issue through the Vision 2025 sales-tax initiative approved by Tulsa County voters five years ago.

The rest came from private donations and fundraisers.

Mike Case of Case & Associates of Tulsa started the ball rolling toward the private contribution by offering a $300,000 challenge grant. It is in honor of Case, a longtime Sand Springs resident, that the center is named.

More than $700,000 was raised among residents through a fundraiser aimed at buying athletic equipment and other items.

City Manager Doug Enevoldsen said, “This iconic facility that speaks volumes about our community’s future started with a vision by local voters to invest in their future through bond issues that paid for the land and building.”

For more information, call the Parks and Recreation Department at 246-2561 or go online to tulsaworld.com/sand springs.

Manny Gamallo 581-8386

manny.gamallo@tulsaworld.com

Originally published by MANNY GAMALLO World Staff Writer.

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