SULTAN — After a Christmas Eve fire destroyed the Boys &Girls Club here in 2010, the nonprofit is building a new home.
A ground-breaking ceremony is set for 1 p.m. Tuesday at the site of the new building at 605 First St.
The site is just down the street from the club’s previous location. The 2010 fire gutted the clubhouse and a smaller day-care building next door. Since the blaze, the club has operated out of borrowed space at the Volunteers of America’s Sky Valley Resource Center, about a half-block from site of the fire.
Now the club is building a permanent home at the center. Plans for the 13,500-square-foot building include a gymnasium, a classroom, a computer lab, a kitchen and a games room.
Before the fire, the Sultan Boys &Girls club had about 525 members, representatives from the nonprofit said. That number has since declined to about 300 with some children going to other clubs nearby. The new building is expected to serve about 1,000 members and also children who come in occasionally.
“There’s also going to be much more opportunity for any kid to drop in,” Boys &Girls Clubs of Snohomish County Development Director Stephanie Selin said.
The building is also slated to house a preschool and a teen center. The club did not previously have programs for teens or a gym.
Selin said construction is expected to be completed for most of the building by early 2015. Work on the gym is to be finished after the rest of the club, hopefully by the end of next year, she said.
The first phase of construction is estimated to cost $1.3 million. The nonprofit plans to cover that with insurance money, Selin said. The city of Sultan, which owned the original club buildings, released about $1 million from insurance to the club after the fire.
The nonprofit’s leaders are hoping to reduce the project’s overall costs, previously estimated at about $3.3 million, by completing construction in two phases. Bids for construction of the gym are expected to go out in 2015.
Selin said much of the funding for the project is in place. The Legislature in 2011 awarded the club $500,000 in state money. The nonprofit also received $340,000 from Snohomish County. It recently gained approval for another $340,000 from the state.
Selin said working with the city, county, the state and other nonprofits has been critical to opening the new club.
“There’s no way any one of us could have done this ourselves,” she said. “That’s how things happen — by partnership.”
Jake Moriarty, of Volunteers of America Western Washington, said housing the Boys &Girls Club at the resource center benefits both nonprofits. People bringing their children into the club may be exposed to services Volunteers of America offers for families, he said.
Volunteers of America has not made plans for the space after the club moves into the new building. Moriarty said the nonprofit hopes to use it for expanded services if funding is available.
It could also be offered to outside community groups, he said.
Amy Nile: 425-339-3192; anile@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @AmyNileReports.
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