Palmdale OKs $2 Million for Recreation Center

Palmdale officials said Monday that they hope to open a long-delayed indoor recreation center by the end of the year, financing the project with $2 million from city redevelopment funds.

The city plans to renovate a former toy store and turn it into a youth-oriented center that would include a full basketball court, two smaller basketball courts and areas for aerobics, exercise and studying, according to a city staff report.

Sitting as directors of the city’s redevelopment agency, Palmdale City Council members agreed Friday to buy the 32,000-square-foot building from Van Nuys businessman Alex Kaminar for $1.7 million. They also agreed to spend $300,000 on remodeling.

Parents, teen-agers and others in the Antelope Valley city have complained that Palmdale, despite its tremendous growth, has no indoor recreation facilities where youngsters can play sports or just socialize in a supervised setting.

The city had negotiated for months to arrange a 10-year lease of the building, but last month switched to an offer to buy. Kaminar said he accepted because he feared that the city might otherwise try to acquire the property through condemnation.

The new center will be in the heart of downtown Palmdale, at 815 E. Avenue Q-6. The building had been a supermarket for years and more recently was a toy store until it closed earlier this year.

The stalled lease negotiations put the center months behind schedule. It would have been paid for with city general funds. The money became available this summer when the city decided to scale down plans for a performing arts center.