PenMet picks a familiar architectural firm to design new recreation center

PenMet Parks has chosen the architect and engineering firm BLRB Architects of Tacoma to move to the next phase of developing the PenMet Parks Community Recreation Center.

The firm’s work may seem familiar — its architects designed the Gig Harbor Civic Center, completed in 2002.

The next step, said the district’s executive director, Doug Nelson, will be formation of a steering committee to help decide, though a series of public meetings, exactly what the public wants in the facility.

“Community input will imperative to developing what the future use of this facility will be,” said Nelson. The district will seek a wide range of input from community, business and sports users, he said.

Familiar faces

The architectural from the district has chosen, Portland-based BLRB, specializes in civic, educational and recreational structures. With offices in Tacoma and Bend, ore., it concentrates on projects in Washington and Oregon.

The design firm’s work will be recognizable to many in Tacoma and its suburbs.

In 1978, it turned the old Rhodes Department Stores in downtown Tacoma into the Norton Clapp Law School for the University of Puget Sound. It redesigned an eyesore downtown Tacoma parking garage, turning it into a multi-use office and commercial center now known as Pacific Plaza.

BLRB also worked on a rehabilitation plan for the historic Tacoma Municipal Building, an art-deco tower build in 1930.

Its own glassed-in offices, located on a triangular lot a steep hillside, have become something of a landmark in downtown Tacoma, and a bellwether of the restoration of the city’s core.

Other local projects currently in the works include a new elementary school in Auburn, and additions or modernization of high schools in Sumner, Centralia, Tukwila and Olympia. It also redesigned the pool and aquatic center at Curtis High School in University Place.

A contract between BLRB and the Peninsula Metropolitan Park District was approved by the park district board on July 21.

“This is a monumental step in providing the community much needed indoor and outdoor space for both passive and active recreational activities,” said Nelson.

The projected Community Recreation Center is to be built on the 17.6-acre site of a former Performance Golf driving range at 2416 14th Ave., which the district purchased for $4.3 million last December.

Long on the wish list of community groups and sports leagues, the new rec center is planned to have 190,000 square feet of space, including an indoor soccer field, a flag football field, pickleball and tennis courts, a walking track and an indoor playground.

The new facility will also include an indoor recreation space, multipurpose learning spaces, community activity spaces, an indoor walking track and an event rental space.

“In the next phase of this signature project, PenMet Parks is seeking vital input from community user groups, local businesses and individuals,“ Nelson said in a press release.

“The Steering Committee, made up of a diverse representation of the Greater Gig Harbor community, will be presented with the project details, goals, and preliminary design elements. This process will include information on project funding, timing, and regulations that impact the project.

“Once familiar with the project, the committee will conduct multiple public meetings to discuss the project elements and give the design team input,” he added.

To apply to serve on the Steering Committee, visit https://penmetparks.org/community-recreation-center/ or email: info@PenMetParks.org

This story was originally published July 29, 2020 at 12:06 AM.