$1.76M grant to fix up Eastside Rec Center

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Alfonso Silva of Carpentersville spars with female boxer Felice Herrig of Buffalo Grove at the Eastside Recreation Center in Elgin in this 2008 photo. Elgin has received a state grant to renovate the building at 1080 E. Chicago St. | Sun-Times Media Fil

Updated: November 16, 2011 3:32PM

ELGIN — The city is set to receive $1,758,600 in state grant money for improvements to the Eastside Recreation Center.

Parks and Recreation Director Randy Reopelle said work would include upgrades to the HVAC system, electrical, plumbing, flooring and windows, plus putting up new walls to delineate additional programming space that will enable the center at 1080 E. Chicago St. to serve more residents.

While smaller classrooms have air conditioning, the gym and the room used for indoor soccer currently don’t, Reopelle said. By keeping things cool in summer, the hope is more people will take part in programming.

According to a press release from the city, Elgin is one of 22 communities set to get funding through the Illinois Park and Recreational Facility Construction Grant Program. That program is providing $50 million in targeted investments to eligible local governments for acquisition, development, construction, rehabilitation or other capital improvements to park and recreation facilities in Illinois. The public works projects are expected to create more than 300 jobs.

The release states that the PARC program, administered by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, reimburses grant recipients up to 75 percent of approved project costs, with up to 90 percent reimbursement available to local governments defined as disadvantaged.

Projects eligible under the program involve land acquisition for the construction of new — or expansion of existing — indoor and outdoor recreation facilities, and for open space and conservation purposes.

Reopelle said the city is waiting on the paperwork for receiving the grant. No timetable for the work has been set.

“I want to thank both state Rep. Keith Farnham and state Sen. Michael Noland (both of Elgin) for their work assisting...Reopelle in obtaining this grant,” City Manager Sean Stegall stated in the release.

The Eastside Recreation Center provides year-round programming, including indoor soccer, boxing, martial arts, preschool, afterschool, camps and computer classes. It also contains a 20,000-square-foot fitness center.

Reopelle said at one time the building was a marina, then a manufacturing plant before becoming a rec center in 1995, and a city parks and rec property in 2008.

In February 2008, one day after the city shut down the facility for at-risk youth amidst allegations one of its gang counselors was involved in a drug trafficking ring, the city took over its operation.

That move came after then-City Manager Olufemi Folarin ordered the facility closed in response to the arrest of 47-year-old Angel L. Vega, who was at the time a city-employed gang intervention specialist. He was terminated from his post, as was program supervisor and God’s Gym cofounder Joel Perez.

Founded in 1984, God’s Gym was supposed to serve as an alternative for area youth who are involved or at risk of becoming involved with gangs or drugs. The non-profit organization moved into the Chicago Street facility in 1995, when the city started to provide funding for its operational costs.