The new Anderson Grove Community Center may not be as plush as centers of larger communities, but it”s the pride of residents there.
The roughly 5,000-square-foot building on Anderson Grove Road next to the community Headstart Center east of Wolfe Road is “truly a dream come true,” said Dorothy Bradley, secretary of the community”s civic association.
The $220,000 facility, which is the first of several capital improvement projects to be completed in Lowndes County and Columbus parks, has been a “long time in coming,” said Anderson Grove Civic Association Chairman Lardell Shaw.
“It finally happened,” he told a crowd of citizens at the grand opening Saturday. “We have a community center.”
The center, which is between the community park and Anderson Grove Road, will serve as the go-to place for nearby residents, said Lillie Shaw Glenn, who grew up and still lives in the area.
“I like it,” she said, looking around the large main room. “It”s going to be a place to go to. It”ll be nice.”
The building has its own kitchen, smaller rooms for classes and offices, and storage rooms.
Community members said they would use the facility for family reunions, community gatherings, civic association meetings and exercise classes.
The facility was built years after locals first began pleading with the Lowndes County Board of Supervisors for funding.
Residents have taken good care of the community park for years, which helped convince supervisors to rent the land and build the facility, said Board of Supervisors President Harry Sanders, whose district includes Anderson Grove.
“Your reputation is that you”re going to take care of this facility because it”s yours,” he said.
Shaw commended the board and citizens for coming together on the project.
“It makes a difference when people work together,” he added.
The Anderson Grove center is just the beginning for the Columbus-Lowndes Recreation Authority, which has a $1.6 million budget to improve community facilities or build new ones, said CLRA Director Roger Short.
Next up is the new community center off Stadium Road in New Hope, he said. That building is expected to be finished by the end of July.
The other community centers will be built at Sim Scott Park, Townsend Park and in Crawford. They will be patterned after the Anderson Grove center, Short said.
The CLRA also plans to renovate the inside of the East Columbus Gym and build a basketball pavilion and community center at Townsend Park to replace the old Charles Brown Gym.
Once finished, the gym will have new flooring, two shuffleboard courts, a volleyball court and a high school regulation-size basketball court, along with new bathrooms and storage space.
The Townsend Park pavilion will house a high-school regulation court.
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