Work on W.A. Foster to begin in mid-May
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on March 18, 2015 2:01 PM
Work on the new W.A. Foster Center is expected to start by mid-May, members of the Goldsboro City Council learned Monday night.
Scott Wynne with T.A. Loving Co., accompanied by Kristen Heiss and Dave Carey of HH Architects, announced the design phase for the more than 24,000-square-foot center is about 90 percent complete, with construction set to start in two months if no roadblocks pop up.
The new center will be built in Mina Weil Park, at the corner of John and House streets.
Once construction begins, it is expected to take nine to 10 months to complete, Wynne said.
"The building itself will be placed near the tennis courts, and the pool house will be torn down," Ms. Heiss told the council. "There will only be one gym, with a walking track around the gym, and the gym can be split into two half courts."
A design shown during the council's work session Monday revealed plans for a lobby, gymnasium, fitness room, adult room, classroom, youth room, multi-purpose room, kitchen, director's office, assistant's office, storage, mechanical room and restrooms.
Plans include a separate youth room and adult room due to concerns expressed by those currently at W.A. Foster, Ms. Heiss said. At the current center, adults and youths have separate blocks of time in which they are allowed in the center, and that inconvenience is eliminated with the plans for the new center.
But the community did not get everything it was seeking in the new center, said Charles Wright during the public comment period of the regularly scheduled council meeting Monday night.
Center leaders and community members requested a double gym in the new facility, but will only get a single 6,000-square-foot gym.
"The new W.A. Foster Center is inadequate for the needs of the community," Wright said. "They requested a double gym, but are only getting one."
The proposed gym will have a barrel-vaulted roof placed on top of it as a tribute to the original center, Ms. Heiss said.
Design plans for the center began in September, Wynne said, and T.A. Loving and HH Architects have cycled through six separate budgets for the project since.
The budget, in its current form, allocates $5.5 million for the project.
The building will cost $4.2 million to construct, while $900,000 was allocated for the property acquisition, $100,000 was allocated for equipment for the project and $500,000 was charged for the design of the building.
This budget does not include the cost of furniture for the building or security cameras for the property. Those will be budgeted for at a later date, Wynne said.