CenterPlace; Community center, set to open Aug. 24,; fills many

A decade in the making, the CenterPlace community center is all but complete. Even the juvenile trees, still adorned with pink and blue plastic ribbons, and the sprouting grass framing the building's three entrances are well on their way to being ready for the grand opening Sept. 24 during Valleyfest.

"When you look around, it's a lot of building," said Mike Jackson, Spokane Valley parks director, during a tour Monday of the $10 million community center at Mirabeau Point.

In the main foyer, a walkway from the second floor splits the light from a wall of glass above the door. Plastic sheeting still drapes a reception window to the left, and from there, empty hallways stretch in either direction.

But demand for meeting space and a place for Valley residents to gather won't leave them silent for long.

At least 100 people have already called Lisa Bracco, the city's new CenterPlace coordinator, about renting space.

"There's been some great response," she said.

Two weddings are scheduled for the first day available, Oct. 1.

The supply of meeting rooms and conference space in the Valley presently is limited to one or two places, such as the Mirabeau Park Hotel. While the Spokane Valley City Council has repeatedly said it does not want to compete with private businesses, Bracco said CenterPlace should find plenty of unfilled demand in the Valley when it opens.

At the back of the foyer, the Great Room will be where many of those gatherings will take place. With seating for 400 and a moveable stage, city officials rattled through a list of possible uses - weddings, dinners, school concerts. A spacious patio complete with permanent speakers sits just outside.

Nearby, an industrial kitchen boasts two walk-in refrigerators, a walk-in freezer and all manner of ovens and warmers - even a deli slicer - within long walls of shining stainless steel.

There is also a room with lockers for a wedding party, performers or anyone else who would need to change clothes before an event.

"Our intent is to make this a true community center," Deputy Mayor Rich Munson said.

Part of that will entail the Spokane Valley Senior Center's migration from its old building near Valley Mission Park to a wing of CenterPlace.

Volunteers will staff a reception desk at a covered entrance to the seniors' area. Behind them is space equipped for art classes and a billiards room, where players can shoot pool with a view of a greenhouse that flanks most of the wing.

The Spokane Valley Senior Citizens Association rents the present senior center building from the city for $12,000 a year. After closing from Aug. 25 to Sept. 5, senior programming will resume at CenterPlace where the association will have nonexclusive use of the south wing between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Although the city will rent rooms in the senior area outside of those hours, the SVSCA will still organize senior activities and will not pay rent.

"We're getting all of this volunteer help and running programs at no charge to the city," Jackson said of the agreement reached with the SVSCA.

Upstairs, the seniors' lounge looks something like the lobby of a downtown Spokane hotel.

A tile-covered fireplace divides an open room with a long bar and an expansive balcony to one side. Cherry furniture ties the area together, and on the other side of the fireplace is a shiny wooden dance floor, thanks to more than $7,500 in extra funds raised by Valley seniors.

A senior library and another room just off the lounge offer views of mountains across the Valley to the south.

"It satisfies a long unmet need by becoming a place to gather in the Valley," said Greg Bever, one of the original trustees of Mirabeau Point Inc.

What started as a plan for an urban, youth-oriented park evolved to include a space for education, the arts and community events.

"We just kept making it bigger and bigger and bigger," Bever said.

Mirabeau Point Inc. handed the project over to the city of Spokane Valley, and since then the city has overseen construction, using $3 million in donations and $7 million from voter approval of a 2002 bond issue which included funds for the downtown Convention Center and improvements to the Spokane Fair and Expo Center.

Stepping across the open walkway that spans the foyer, the fruits of that plan become evident. Seven classrooms on the second floor will hold classes on law enforcement, business and other subjects offered through the Community Colleges of Spokane this fall.

Below them is more meeting space and an auditorium with seating for 100.

"The whole building is networked together," Jackson said, meaning that a lecture given by someone in the auditorium could be broadcast to any other room in the building that has a projector.

His office and the Parks and Recreation Department, will move in next to the auditorium.

The public is invited to the grand opening of CenterPlace Sept. 24 when the facility will host activities for children and displays on other city projects.

"No matter where you live, you can feel like you have a place to bring guests," Jackson said.

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