Monday, October 27, 2008
Gates Center Opens with Fanfare
The ceremony had all the action befitting a grand opening of a new building—a standing-room-only crowd of hundreds, cotton-candy, popcorn, foosball, a tent with hot dogs, burgers and enchiladas, and music—and, of course, it had speeches from county luminaries.
The Buckingham community gathered Saturday to celebrate the opening of the new Gates of Ballston Community Center at 4108 N. 4th St.
“The biggest statement that this facility makes is the statement about our values,” said Barbara Favola, the vice chair of the Arlington County board. She said she came on behalf of her board colleague, Chairman Walter Tejada, a well-known politician in the Buckingham neighborhood.
Ms. Favola said the center is a concerted effort on the part of the county to put services into the neighborhoods where the services are needed. This was the one line in all the speeches that drew applause without it being asked for.
“The county is the proud sponsor of most of the programming in this building,” she said. The county also helped finance the building with an $8.5 million loan to AHC, Inc., the owner and developer of the property. The building was part of the $108 million renovation of the Gates of Ballston property. The project funding came from numerous corporate and affordable housing partners.
And the community center is designed for community service, with a large, colorful party room on the main floor, offices for AHC Management, offices for BU-GATA (the tenants association), child care upstairs, and space for the Buckingham Community Outreach Center which provides computer access, career training, English classes and other services to the largely Spanish-speaking community.
The outreach center has spent its entire life in various apartments all over the Gates’ property, most recently in conjoined two bedroom apartments in a nearby building.
The county and AHC, Inc. have not finalized the outreach center contract for the space on the second floor, county staff and others have said. Those rooms on the second floor are still vacant.
The community room with its orange accent walls, multi-colored curtains, blue counter top in the kitchen area, and a purple fireplace mantel was the centerpiece of the day.
The interior designer, Diana Lamb, called the room “bright,” “cheerful,” and “fun.”
“It was a low-budget job that, with creativity, they got a bang for their buck,” Ms. Lamb said. She said they did not have a lot of money for furniture and paint, but “I don’t think it looks that way.”
In fact, AHC President and CEO Walter Webdale said the teens loved what they saw. “They actually hugged the furniture,” he said, before pausing for effect then adding that he did not know why they would hug the chairs, but they did.
Also on hand for the day were Ron Carlee, the Arlington County manager, Rick Leeds, the president of AHC Management, Patrick Hope, the president of the Buckingham Community Civic Association, Lois Athey, an activist with BU-GATA, and Connie Freeman, the director of the Buckingham Community Outreach Center.
The event ran despite the rains on Saturday from noon to 4p.m.
Related stories…
Labels: ahc, buckingham outreach center, renovation
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
HeraldTrib Today: June 11, 2008
I was in a hurry last week to get my post finished and head off on hiatus. That’s when I inadvertently opened a can of worms.
My intention was to let readers know that the Gates of Ballston, owned by AHC, Inc., planned to open their new community center this summer, and that I would be writing a story about it in the fall when I return from hiatus.
A month or more ago, I had spoken to some people at the current Buckingham Community Outreach Center housed in two connected apartments at the Gates. They were concerned about the move into the new space.
I should have stopped there. Instead I wrote more detail, saying that the community outreach program was going to lose about 1,500 square feet in the move.
I was wrong.
Although Connie Freeman (I called her “Connie Sherman” last week—a bad week), as the director of the community outreach center, is concerned about changes in space and use of the space, she cannot remember ever talking to me about square footage. I was running off memory, rather than notes.
I’ll admit it was unprofessional. I may be a blog, but I do have standards that I attempt to maintain.
So I’m going to apologize for that stupidity, and then move on.
This is the plan for my coverage of the center:
1: I posted the letter from AHC, Inc., below. It is their response to my column last week.
2: Over the summer, I will find some time to run back through all my notes on this—both the notes from people in the Buckingham Community Outreach Center and the people, including Catherine Bucknam from AHC Inc., who gave me a tour of the facility last February.
3: I will be back in the fall to talk to AHC, Connie Freeman, Catherine Bucknam and others to find out how the new space is working. I will write more then.
AHC Inc., the largest nonprofit developer and owner of affordable housing in Northern Virginia, has won the 2008 "Best Project Virginia" award for the Gates of Ballston, a 464-unit affordable apartment complex in Arlington, VA, that was built in the late 1930s. The award, presented by the Housing Association of Nonprofit Developers (HAND), was announced at HAND's annual meeting in early June, a press release from AHC, Inc. said.
All week I knew I would have to run my apology and the letter from AHC, Inc., so I thought I would look to a little more news. Check out the stories below.
One of them mentions a sewage spill on June 4 affecting Lubber Run. The water is now clean, said the county’s Shannon Whalen McDaniel, since the rain flushed it out.
The press release told people and animals to stay out of the water until further notice. I saw only one yellowish flyer on a post at one Lubber Run entrance.
I very well could have missed others at the entrances, but I can’t help but think a couple notices nearer the water would have helped in this case. Flyers on bridge railings and that sort of thing might have garnered more attention.
Still, it’s clean now, so consider this “further notice.”
I updated the photos--got the scanner working--on the N. Glebe Road at N. Pershing Drive intersection below. I updated the post with a new helpful illustration; the story itself is the same.
Look for me at Steve Songs (Lubber Run Amphitheatre this SATURDAY--I wrote the wrong day when I first posted).
See you in the fall…
The Week’s Headlines…
As always, you can scroll down to see all the recent stories, or simply click the links below (if the link doesn't work, scroll down to find the story, and email to tell me what's busted: heraldtrib@gmail.com --Steve Thurston).
Today's Headlines:
Headlines from Earlier in the Week:
Labels: ahc, buckingham outreach center, gates of ballston, lubber run center
Letter: Gates' Community Center Has Space
We were surprised and disappointed to read in last week’s blog that some members of the Buckingham community still have concerns about the space for Arlington County’s Community Outreach Program in the new Gates of Ballston Community Center. AHC Inc., the owner and manager of the Gates of Ballston, collaborated with senior County staff and community volunteers to design spaces and programs that will meet the needs of the Buckingham community. The result is a beautiful, functional community center with approximately 1,600 square feet of space for the Community Outreach Program, 1,500 square feet of space for AHC’s Resident Services program, and another 2,200 square feet of space that can be reserved by residents, the Community Outreach Program, or AHC for special programs.
The Community Outreach space includes two classrooms, a computer classroom, an office, and a meeting room. The remaining space in the new building includes the leasing and property management offices, four handicapped-accessible bathrooms, and an office for the Buckingham and Gates Tenant Association (BUGATA).
AHC has always supported the work of the Community Outreach Program and we have worked hard to accommodate their needs since we bought The Gates in 2002. The two apartments currently occupied by Community Outreach were always intended as temporary space while the Gates underwent an extensive renovation and the new community center was built. AHC will return these apartments to their original purpose – rental housing – once the Community Outreach Program moves to the new community center.
We are very excited about the new Gates Community Center and look forward to celebrating its opening with the Buckingham community later this summer. We truly believe the new center is going to be a great asset to the community.
Sincerely,
Catherine Bucknam
Director of Community Relations
AHC Inc.
Labels: buckingham outreach center, community center, gates of ballston
