North Fayette Supervisors recently approved architectural designs for a new community center that is set to be built in Donaldson Park. Construction is expected to begin sometime in the coming year, and the facility is tentatively scheduled to open on July 15, 2015, just weeks before the township’s annual Community Days event at the park.  

The glass and steel-accented structure will look out on the park’s baseball fields and have three levels. The first will house a basketball court and locker rooms with a hotel-like exercise room. The second will feature an education center, indoor track, and an indoor playground with attached lounge. The third will have multi-purpose rooms for meetings, banquets, or programming, along with a prep kitchen and wrap-around terrace.  

Supervisors approved the designs after what was described as an impressive presentation from Pittsburgh-based DRS Architects.  

"When they put that up on the screen, we said, that’s it," says North Fayette Township Manager Bob Grimm.  

On its web site, DRS lists a number of buildings in Pittsburgh that the company has designed, including the PNC YMCA near Market Square. North Fayette’s designs indicate its facility will have plenty of windows, and an open, loft-like scope with the second and third floors looking down onto the gymnasium floor. Plans were initially to make the gymnasium floor large enough for two, side-by-side basketball courts, but supervisors downsized those plans as a cost-saving measure, says North Fayette Parks and Recreation Director Bob Brozovich. He says the new floor will still be much larger than the township’s current one at the community center in the old Western Allegheny Community Library, and allow for plenty of cross-court play.  

Brozovich says the township plans to open the center to afterschool programs for children through grades five, and possibly offer babysitting so that parents can enjoy programs. He envisions adults using the facility in the morning, and getting ready for work using the locker rooms. Parents will also be able to relax in the center’s lounge while their children enjoy the indoor playground year round.  

Brozovich says he hopes to expand the township’s senior programs as well.  

"I hope to have something every day for seniors," he says, such as dance classes and luncheons.  

Brozovich says that the township has been planning the center for some time, and that the bond to build the facility was taken out to lock in low interest rates.

"It made much more sense to lock in a bond while the interest rates were low," says North Fayette Director of Fiscal and Administrative Services David Lodovico. "If you’re going to build, now is the time." 

Brozovich says that the next step is to begin listening to contract offers from construction companies, and to look for additional ways to finance the $4.5 million structure. Along with grants, he says the township is looking into sponsorship opportunities such as engraving bricks and naming rooms.  

Once the facility is up and running, the township plans to cover operating costs by charging a small membership fee to residents using the facility, and to rent out its banquet space. Brovozich says that the upstairs, with its prep kitchen, will be perfect for catered events, and that each of the facility’s three banquet rooms will be able to accommodate 58 people. The rooms will also be able to convert into one giant room capable of holding 174 people.  

"Donaldson Park is nice," says Brozovich about the hilltop park that was built in 2010 adjacent to Donaldson Elementary School, "but this will be a showpiece."