$2.1M in work will expand, renovate East Central Community Center

More than $2.1 million in new construction and renovation is coming to the East Central Community Center in Spokane, according to permits issued by the city.

The work will add five new classrooms and renovate three existing classrooms to the center.

In January 2018, the Martin Luther King Jr. Family Outreach Center took over the East Central Community Center at 500 S. Stone St. The outreach center’s move to its new East Central neighborhood location marked an end to its 33-year run in a former fire station on the lower South Hill on Sherman Street.

The organization won a controversial bidding process to assume management of the center, eventually earning a 4-2 vote from the Spokane City Council to operate the aging facility and take over for the existing nonprofit, the East Central Community Organization, which had operated the center since 2012. Both organizations accused the selection process of bias and conflicts of interest.

The successful library bond on November’s ballot will move the neighborhood’s library from the community center to Liberty Park, freeing up space and allowing the renovation work.

The contractor is Meridian Construction, of Spokane Valley. The architect is ZBA Architecture, of Spokane.