The proposed Long Beach Kroc Center
3:30pm | The City of Long Beach released a statement today regarding the future of the Kroc Center Project. Although the Salvation Army Western Territory Board of Directors voted to discontinue the Kroc Center project, the City of Long Beach states it is “committed to transforming the Hamilton Bowl from a neglected flood control basin into a thriving community recreation facility.”
The City’s statement is provided below:
On May 4, 2010, the City of Long Beach received word that The Salvation Army Western Territory Board of Directors voted to discontinue the Kroc Center project. The City asked the Army to reconsider the decision but The Salvation Army has informed the City of Long Beach that their Board of Directors decided to uphold their original decision to forego the Long Beach Kroc Center at the Hamilton Bowl site. The Long Beach Kroc Center was one of a few projects the Army canceled; others include facilities in Detroit, Michigan and Manassas, New York.
The Army provided Mayor Foster with a letter highlighting the cooperation and support from City officials and concluding the Army lacks the capacity to raise the annual financial support from the community that will be needed to sustain scholarships, programming and personnel to operate the Center. The letter comes as the final response on the Project.
Despite this turn of events, the City of Long Beach is committed to transforming the Hamilton Bowl from a neglected flood control basin into a thriving community recreation facility. City staff will be preparing options for City Council and community consideration.
While the Army may not be pursing the project, in the spirit of cooperation and support for the community, the Army will provide the project plans and design to the City at no cost.
“Salvation Army’s generous donation of the Kroc Center design is great gift to the city and will save Long Beach a lot of money in our pursuit to build a world class community center in the Hamilton Bowl location,” said Mayor Bob Foster.
More to come…
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