Community Center Feasibility Study

Pros Consulting submitted the following report on March 17, 2021 to the Village of Richfield regarding the feasibility for the village to build and operate a community study. The report follows in its entirety.

The village residents are relatively split on the value of having a community center. Fifty-four percent are very supportive/somewhat supportive, 44 percent are somewhat unsupportive/not supportive at all, and 10 percent are neutral based on whether they see a need and if they are supportive of developing a community center based on the citizen survey and public engagement process used in this study.

The village leaders should consider developing an action planning committee to move forward with a future preliminary design of a community center. The committee should propose a true cost of building the facility and then make adjustments to the operational pro-forma outlined in this feasibility study if needed.

The capital cost will be in the range of $7.5 million without a pool to 10 million with a pool based on the proposed square footage with all the costs built into the capital numbers, including soft costs. The two pro forma’s are very conservative if the village hires the right people to manage it. To achieve the level of use outlined in the pro forma will require effective programing that provides services for everyone who lives in the village and the township, as well as those who work in the village. Community centers bring people together to celebrate their community, their history, their children and each other in spaces that will last for the next 50-plus years. These types of facilities are legacy projects in a community – not much different than a community library. Managing the future and not the past can be challenging but worth the journey if positioned correctly in the minds of residents and users who will make it their home. ∞

Click HERE to see full study results