Schererville breaks ground on community center
By Michelle L. Quinn Post-Tribune correspondent August 8, 2012 7:36PM
Updated: September 10, 2012 1:40PM
SCHERERVILLE — In keeping with a tight schedule, officials broke ground Wednesday for the town’s community center.
Park Board President Rich Elliott, along with board member Ed Cook and town dignitaries, raised their shovels for the $2.5 million project at 500 E. Joliet St., just inside the Scherwood subdivision as part of Scherwood Park. Tentatively named the Scherwood Park Community Center, it may be renamed after the late, long-serving Town Manager Richard Krame per Town Council approval.
“It’s been 20 years,” programming director Cindy Horgash said. “Having our programming in one place will be fantastic.”
Elliott said the one-story, 12,000-square-foot building canted diagonally on the parcel will feature a kitchen and one large room that can be partitioned off into three rooms for events. Programming, currently spread out among the Town Hall, library and anywhere else it can be squeezed, is expected to expand exponentially.
“We’ve had to turn people away (from programs),” he said. “Now we’ll be able to consolidate them all.”
Parks and Recreation Superintendent John Novacich said the center will go a long way in providing “social capital” to Schererville.
“If you look at communities all over the country, you’ll see many are forming healthy initiatives, and in our master plan, promoting Schererville as a healthy town is one of our strategies,” he said. “Schererville and its residents deserve it.”
The Town Council last month created a fund that will allow the town to borrow funds from savings and its tax-increment finance district to take advantage of a $492,000 federal grant it was awarded in 2007.
An additional $2 million the town will need for the center will likely come from a park bond, which the town’s accountants, Indianapolis-based London Witte LLC, have instructed town officials will cost taxpayers about $10 per year, or less than a $1 per month, over the course of the loan.
The construction contract was awarded to Berglund Construction of Chesterton; Schererville-based Van Ryn Architects provided the center’s design.
