Plans are falling into place for the new Timms Centre.
The City of Langley announced on Friday that beginning this December, the community recreation centre will temporarily relocate from its current home on Douglas Crescent, while the old building is demolished and a new 13,000 square-foot facility is built.
The City has signed a two-year lease agreement with Marcon Development Ltd. for the building at 20702 Eastleigh Cres., former home of the Langley Legion, most recently occupied by the now-defunct Vancouver’s Ultimate Dance Club.
The blueprints for the new Timms Centre currently call for a single-storey structure that will serve as a community hub, said Langley City CAO Francis Cheung. However, a call has gone out to various community groups, inviting them to occupy space in the building, and if there is enough demand designers will have to look at adding a second floor, he said.
He expects to have a better sense by the end of the year of how many groups will be involved.
Unlike a number of more elaborate centres that have been constructed in the Lower Mainland in recent years, said Cheung, this one “will be functional and modest.”
Once complete, the building will house a 6,000 square-foot gym, change rooms, showers, office and community space and will be connected to City Hall, both at ground level and through its underground parking lot. The buildings will likely share a single receptionist, he added.
Before the Legion building suddenly became available last month, staff had considered relocating the community centre to a series of portables in a park during construction, said Cheung.
With its central location and large parking lot, the Legion “is a much more usable space,” he said.
Cheung expects that the City will be able to provide very close to the same level of service from its temporary site as it has been offering from Douglas Crescent.
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