New plan unveiled for state of the art Sim Scott Community Center

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) -Major changes are on the way to Columbus’ Northside.

After being demolished in the February tornado, plans have been unveiled for a new state of the art facility for the Sim Scott community center.

The community center was used for a variety of reasons such as family reunions, political forums, and after school activities for the youth, just to name a few

“The park has always played a very vital role in the community over there and it’s always been a very important part of the community,” said Greg Lewis, Columbus Parks and Recreation Director.  “With a building like this that we are getting ready to put up, it’s only going to enhance what’s going on over there and bring back some of that vibrance to that park.”

Prior to the storm, the center consisted of two buildings.

Now, according to the new plan, everything will be under one roof in one big building.

“The old structures together we’re only about 7,500 square feet, the new structure is about 9,000 square feet,” said Kevin Stafford, city engineer.

Lewis and Stafford were just a few of the people who’ve worked together to make this new center possible.

The new community center will feature bigger classrooms, there will be an extra workstation in the kitchen, and there will also be new aesthetic features around the building such as a porch and sidewalks

“Where we are now, we are reviewing pre-engineered metal buildings and we will finalize a foundation plan,” explained Stafford. “The foundation will get built, the metal building will go up, and we hope by the end of this year the building will be close to finished. Realistic finish, provided if weather gets in our way, will be next spring, no later than. We’re going to try and expedite the schedule and get enough contractors in and manage this to where at the end of the day, we’re in it by hopefully the end of the year.”

“We’re eagerly excited about the plans and we’re ready to get started,” said Lewis. “What this is going to do more is restore some hope and faith into the community over there because that building was the most used building before the storm.”

However, the community center won’t be the only thing getting upgrades.

City leaders are looking into making some renovations to the park itself as well.

“There are playgrounds and other structures that we are going to be putting in place,” Lewis described. “We’re going to be adding some water features to the water parks, so I think that at the end of the day, we’e going to have a real nice community park that we can be very proud of.”

Back in July, city leaders to hired Bryan Brown and Associates as the architect.

This project will cost the city roughly $900,000.

However, up to 75% of that money can be reimbursed by FEMA.

City leaders were presented with the new plans for the Sim Scott Community Center during Tuesday’s council meeting.