Facility opens earlier than expected and under budget
In a short time, the whistling of the wind over the Seward Wellness Center’s front doors will be replaced by basketball or volleyball whistles on the court. The center is officially open.
Shane Baack cut the ribbon at the Seward Wellness Center on March 30, with a crowd gathered on the double gymnasium.
Baack has been talking about a wellness center in Seward for a dozen years, and Mayor Josh Eickmeier, Sen. Jana Hughes and a few others who spoke at the ribbon-cutting cited his persistence.
“For 12 years we fought this fight to get to this,” Baack said before the ribbon was cut.
But Baack and others were quick to credit others who have worked on the $21 million project.
Sen. Jana Hughes and her husband, John, spent hours talking about the wellness center and asking people for financial support. Baack said they are “truly change agents for this community.”
Baack introduced Hugh Rogers from La Jolla, California, whose late wife, Joan Kruse Rogers, left an estate gift endowing funds for the support and maintenance of this facility in her hometown in perpetuity.
That commitment to the future “was the last piece of the puzzle” that planners had not solved as construction was underway, Baack said.
He said Concordia University Executive Vice President Dave Kumm volunteered his experience leading construction projects, and the members of Seward Changing the Game Inc. – Baack, Ryne Seaman, Max Wake, Patricia Lindner, Jennifer Janousek, Jana Hughes, Matt Stryson, Kumm, Cheryl Vajgrt, Kris Beckler-Kocian and Matt Dominy – as well as Mayor Josh Eickmeier and city leaders and staff helped move the project along.
He also cited the BVH architecture firm, Sampson Construction, and other contractors for their work enabling the project to be completed about three months earlier than expected, under budget and without injury or accident.
Jana Hughes said the center exceeds expectations.
“We could not imagine how this was going to come to be, but it is above and beyond,” she said.
Three things propelled the community’s efforts to build its own wellness center, she said.
First, she said, planners approached the YMCA organization to see if Seward could build a Y, but were told the community was considered part of the Lincoln Fallbrook Y facility’s district.
Second, Seward’s city leaders and administrators said they could take on the management of a wellness center in addition to current parks and recreation activities.
Third, after looking at several location options, the land where the center stands was donated and offered a footprint large enough to accommodate the building, parking and potential expansion in the future.
Then fundraising began.
The $21 million center was financed with more than $3 million private gifts and grants, including a Nebraska Civic and Community Center Financing Fund grant through the state Department of Economic Development, as well as the half-cent local option sales tax.
Many individuals, families, foundations, businesses and grant-makers are honored on a Donor Wall at the entrance of the building, including one plaque that recognizes “Voters of Seward” for their support of the local option sales tax.
But Baack asked the Seward area residents at the ribbon cutting for one more gift.
“We ask for your continued support by using this facility,” he said. “That will promote the goal of making Seward the “best place to live and play and work together.”
Brase said the management of the wellness center will include the city’s parks and rec programs.
“We are going to use this to enhance that and grow that into something bigger,” he said, noting their goal is to offer the community something to be proud of that sets Seward apart from other places.
The four full-time staff members are: Brase, Jamie Fields, assistant director and recreation director, Tom Vajgrt, facility director, and Samantha Peterson, childcare director. Several other part-time staffers were on hand for opening day and will take on duties, including instructing wellness classes, after-school and childcare programming, member services, and a myriad of things that will keep the facility operating.
“There is a lot that we have to learn about,” Brase said, noting that when people come to use the center, staff will be learning how the building “flows.”
There are a few things yet to be completed, Baack, Jana Hughes and Brase noted.
A portrait of Joan Kruse Rogers has been commissioned to hang in the center, recognizing her investment in the center’s future, 1,000 trees have been ordered to plant a windbreak around the facility, and somewhere down the road, Seward will decide when it is time to expand and possibly add another gymnasium and a fieldhouse that would offer indoor facilities for soccer or batting practice.
“But right now, we are going to enjoy this facility,” Hughes said.
