photo by: Elvyn Jones

The Baldwin City Council is considering a voter referendum on funding the conversion of the old gym at Eighth and Chapel streets, shown here Sunday, Aug. 30, 2020, into a community center.

The Baldwin City Council now has plans and a cost estimate for converting the old Chapel Street gym into a community center as it moves toward a voter referendum on funding for the project.

At an Aug. 25 special meeting, Lawrence architect Jay Zimmerschied presented plans for the gym’s conversion into a community center. The project would cost an estimated $2.2 million, but Zimmerschied said it would qualify for historic preservation tax credits. Work on the gym started in 1941 as a Great Depression-era Works Progress Administration project. The tax credits would reduce the city’s final investment by an estimated $474,000, he said, making the city’s cost for the conversion around $1.79 million.

Baldwin City Mayor Casey Simoneau said he and the Community Center Citizens Advisory Committee would now get community feedback on how Zimmerschied’s plans could be refined to better fit community needs. The community will also be asked to share views on details of a sales tax referendum to finance the community center project.

Simoneau said the City Council planned to put a referendum before city voters in April 2021 on authorizing a sales tax to fund the community center project. Still undecided is whether the city will ask for a quarter-cent or half-cent of additional sales tax authority, he said.

A recent city survey suggests there is support for a sales tax funding the project, Simoneau said.

“In a survey, more than 80% of the responders said they would rather we use a sales tax than property taxes to fund the project,” he said. “More than 80% of responders also said they supported use of the old gym as a community center.”

The renovated space could be used for basketball, volleyball and pickleball games, senior events, a senior meal site, a youth gathering place, exercise site and group and club meetings, Zimmerschied said.

The building would be similar to the Community Building at 115 W. 11th St. in downtown Lawrence, Simoneau said. It would give residents a place to engage in indoor activities and sports, which the city currently doesn’t offer, he said.

The building would also be available to rent for special events, Simoneu said.

The City Council last year accepted the donation of the old gym from the family of the late Steve Bauer, who was killed with his wife, Alison, in a 2017 car accident. Once the city took title to the gym, now called the Bauer Community Building, the City Council agreed to spend $100,000 to fix the gym’s leaking roof.

The renovation work will start with the demolition and remodeling of the old restrooms in the building.

The rooms in the extensions to the south and north of the main gym area would also be demolished, as would the stage area to the east of the gym, Zimmerschied said. A room in the northern area would be remodeled into a warming kitchen. Rooms in the southern area would be remodeled into a youth game room and a reception area.

Other details of the renovation plan include:

• Addition of entry vestibules to the south and north of the gym.

• Installation of retractable basketball goals, volleyball nets and batting cages.

• A two-floor renovation of the old stage area to the east of the gym with steps and an elevator connecting the two floors. The bottom floor would include two large multipurpose rooms. The top floor would have four offices and an observation area overlooking the gym. The second floor would add more than 1,000 square feet of floor space to the building, Zimmerschied said.

Parking is a concern, Zimmerschied said. The lot behind the building belongs to the old school just to the east, which has been converted into apartments. Zimmerschied’s plans show parallel parking on Chapel Street and angled parking spaces on Eighth Street.