Official: Multipurpose building could attract many

Among the many people taking part in a youth basketball tournament inside the Firley YMCA gymnasium were this group of 1st grade “Little Dribblers,” coached by sisters Gabby Jahr and Noelle Case. They are teaching the kids the basics of basketball for 3-on-3 tournaments. The city’s plans for a multipurpose building could alleviate some of the crowding at local gyms.

By Madeleine Leroux

Monday, January 21, 2013

A proposed multipurpose building could help attract more groups to the capital city, according to one official in the Jefferson City Parks and Recreation Department.

Department director Bill Lockwood said a multipurpose building could bring in more visitors to the area, primarily through sports tournaments.

“I think there’s a big opportunity to bring a lot of people in for weekend volleyball, basketball tournaments,” Lockwood said. “A lot of folks are having to travel elsewhere for those now and our good central location would help make that a good use for the facility.”

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wow 4 months ago

A multi pupose "Sports Complex"...do it right, don't cut corner's, don't build in the city limits because there is no room. This place should meet the needs of various sporting events, so IMHO it would be smart to build in an area that affords a large complex and parking accomodations for the crowd. Don't build another YMCA, this building...Sport's Complex needs to be more than just a gym. You do this and then you'll start attracting the crowds that could possibly justify your Convention Center. Building the Convention Cener first isn't the best thing to do.....let's move forward, but let's do it the right way.

JCLifer 4 months ago

Sports complex doesn't sound like multipurpose. We need simething bigger and nicer than this. Needs to have at least 50, 000 sq ft of indoor arena space with seating for at least 5000 so we can have performances, concerts, large town meetings, indoor rodeos, car shows auctions, ecumemenical church services, etc.
Combine this project with the convention center and build a very nice facility.

Jefferson City is at a crossroads. We have a huge opportunity to do some things right to build for the future. Combining the convention center and multipurpose buildings to one big and nice facility would give us advantages and capabilities other towns would drool over. Remodeling JCHS and building a small second high school would finally give us two smaller high schools instead of a megaschool boiling pot.

I hope and pray we think forward and think big and nice so we finally have something we can be proud of, as well as attract visitors and new residents, as well as some good employers and higher paying jobs.

PLEASE DO NOT BLOW THIS AND WASTE OUR TAX DOLLARS TO HAVE MORE STATUS QUO.

JCLifer 4 months ago

More important: Please build something for us residents who have to pay for this. We want something we can use. It seems that city "leaders" are more interested in using our tax dollars to serve out-of-town people and uptown business owners instead of the members of the community.

Gotigers 4 months ago

Great idea. We are in need of gym space.

MakeSense 4 months ago

Great idea! I would love to see this. We have been traveling to Linn Tech and Osage Beach for our preteen basketball leagues. I agree with JCLifer in that it should be a multipurpose facility that is adaptable to all sorts of uses. Jefferson City does need this and we need to do it right. The Linn Tech facility is very nice - obviously, their needs are different ours but it might be a good idea to draw from their concepts.

rj27 4 months ago

I'll say it again.Build it in the rock quarry on Christy dr.The highway access is already there and there is room for a real convention center and parking.Highly visable from a major highway.It's less than 10 min from any hotel in town.Do it right or forget it!

JCLifer 4 months ago

Great idea! Great access from several directions. Good roads. Very close to most hotels. Lots of room for parking too.

GREAT LOCATION TO CATCH THE LAKE TRAFFIC!

RobHunterJohnson 4 months ago

Lots of room for growth! Rob

WTF 4 months ago

Good idea rj. I drove by this location this morning. That would be an excellent place for the convention center or multi purpose center. Lots of space for ample parking and more than one exit out of the area. I am tired of the same mind set of seeing how much c rap we can put downtown with no parking.

JCLifer 4 months ago

They NEVER think about building a parking garage in this town, yet Columbia has dozens of parking garages all over town. Why can't we ever think to include parking as a neccessary part of the structure? Don't get me started on State government, especially the Truman Building.

RobHunterJohnson 4 months ago

rj27 That is a great idea, that ground would make a great location, with high visability, and easy highway access! Rob

rj27 4 months ago

Only problem is it makes too much sense.AND it doesn't belong to one of the promoters of the convention center idea.Go big or go home!

hater1234 4 months ago

A casino would have brought in people too... Just sayin...

jcmo12345 4 months ago

You mean a convention center-like building?

sancho 4 months ago

Ok, I'm confused. I read the entire article and thought that it was about a recreation center that they are now calling a multi-purpose building. It will be built using funds from Jefferson City's Parks and Recreation Department.

The comments appear to be talking about the conference/convention center.

I could be wrong, but I don't think there's plans to put the recreation building/multi-purpose building downtown. They may consider putting it in what we call the inner-core, but not downtown.

When they talk about bringing people to Jefferson City they are talking about tournaments that could be held in the facility that would draw people here from outside the area.

JCLifer 4 months ago

Still the focused effort to use our tax dollars build and operate stuff for out-of-town people to use is crazy. Why don't we build stuff for local citizens to use? Why doesn't the City put its own residents/taxpayers FIRST?

JCLifer 4 months ago

Is the city still planning to purchase the Assembly of God church on Route C across from Schulte's grocery store? If the City is purchasing the church for additional gym space, will they still need to build more basketball courts in the Rec Center? How much is this gonna cost taxpayers to purchase the church and renovate it?

Paroquet 4 months ago

Oh! Like the Oak Hills Golf Course what jacks-up traffic something vile during some weekend every Autumn?

With all of these "traffic flow" fixes, you'd figure there was a brain behind them. And I'm sure there is, but it's toward the now, not the later, and not really much toward the former.

Meanwhile, I'll keep charging the track stars' groupies for parking in my driveway while working to keep my street from being bottle-necked to a one-way alley. On my own, thank you! You'd be surprised how little the City is willing to help and just how effective a couple of traffic cones can be.

JCLifer 4 months ago

The City re-did Ellis Blvd along Oak Hills just last year, but they didn't have the foresight to make it wider for additional parking (angle parking preferred) or to even put in sidewalks and curbing. What a lost cause this place is... It is hard to have any trust in the City's plans to build anything around here.

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