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October 8, 2004/Tishri 23 5765, Vol. 57, No. 6
East Valley JCC to move, grow
LEISAH NAMM
Managing Editor
The East Valley Jewish Community Center breaks ground Oct. 26 for a new facility at the southwest corner of Ray and Alma School roads in Chandler.
The 4 p.m. ceremony also will launch a $7.5 million capital campaign for the site, which includes a 25,000 square-foot building - a former Osco Drug store - and 4.4 acres of land, said Michael Waxman, JCC building committee chairman.
Developer Michael Pollack, owner of P and P Development Company, sold the JCC the land and arranged for the lease-purchase of the building, said Waxman.
The site will be devel-oped in two phases.
The first will include a complete renovation of the building and a relocation of all the services the JCC currently provides, Waxman said. These include a preschool, day school and meeting space.
This will be accomplished by August 2005, said George Jacobson, JCC president.
The new facility also will have a kosher kitchen, classrooms with multiple bathrooms, a youth lounge, a senior lounge, two play-grounds and a school gymnasium, Waxman said.
The capital campaign goal for the initial phase is $4.5 million, which includes purchase of the existing building and land, renovation of the building's interior and acquisition of furniture, fixtures and equipment.
So far, more than $1 million has been raised.
Plans for a full campus - the second phase on the 4.4 acres of land - include a ball field, swimming pool, health club and auditorium. Timing will depend on the success of the capital campaign, Jacobson said.
Waxman calls the location "ideal." According to the 2002 Greater Phoenix Jewish Community Study facilitated by the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix, the site "puts us (between) Ahwatukee and the far East Valley, where more and more young families are moving."
The study indicated that 16 percent of the Valley's Jewish community is in the East Valley area that includes Ahwatukee, Chandler, Gil-bert, Mesa and Tempe.
The JCC had leased a site from the Tempe School District for 17 years, and then moved to its current location at 1515 S. Indian Bend in Tempe in July 2002.
Until last month, the EVJCC was named the Tri-City Jewish Community Center.
Three couples donated an initial gift in the late 1990s to the capital campaign - Dr. Leon and Lynn Rigberg; Dr. Herbert and Lynne Rigberg and Joyce Cooper and the late Dr. Jay Cooper.
Ilan Baldinger is architect for the project, and the JCC is now selecting a general contractor, Waxman said. Renovations are expected to begin in January.
The JCC is looking for a lead donor, who would receive naming rights. Ben Benedict is the capital campaign chairman. Call 480-897-0588.
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