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November 5, 1999/26 Cheshvan 5760, Vol. 52, No.10
JCC move to Scottsdale site approved
ANNE BRADY
Managing Editor
and LENI REISS
Senior Contributing Editor
The new Jewish Community Campus serving the Valley of the Sun will be built on the southeast corner of Scottsdale Road and Sweetwater Avenue, just north of Cactus Park on the western border of Scottsdale.
The Jewish Community Campus task force and the executive committee of the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix, on Thursday, Oct. 28, both unanimously approved resolutions to move forward with the relocation of the campus project - from 10 acres on the southwest corner of 40th Street and Shea Boulevard in northeast Phoenix to the new Scottsdale site, which currently is undeveloped.
Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix Executive Vice President Art Paikowsky said that an anonymous donor had arranged to purchase 30 acres at the Scottsdale and Sweetwater site, and had agreed to donate at least 20 acres for construction of the campus.
"The deal is done," Paikow-sky said. "The only issue is getting a use permit from the city of Scottsdale. That process has been started."
Lanny Lahr, chairman of the JCC capital funds campaign who solicited the donation, noted that the other 10 acres at the Scottsdale site has been "set aside" by the donor for possible use by the proposed Jewish Community High School and the King David School, an independent Jewish day school now operating on the campus of Temple Beth Israel at 56th Street and Shea Boulevard.
Plans call for the new Jewish high school to begin holding classes at the main Jewish Community Campus and later move into its own building on five of the adjacent acres, Lahr explained. If either the high school or the King David School decides it doesn't need or want its own five acres, the donor could donate or use that property for another purpose, Lahr explained.
Lahr said the donor wanted the Jewish Community Campus to be located on the Scottsdale property, which is adjacent to Sonoran Sky Elemen- tary School, a public school in the Paradise Valley Unified School District, as well as to the city park. Lahr added that the donor wishes to remain anonymous at this time, although Lahr said he realizes that once the sale of property closes, the donor's name, the seller's name and the purchase price will become part of the public record.
Paikowsky said the 10 acres at Shea Boulevard and 40th Street, where a dedication ceremony for the campus was held this past May, will be sold, with proceeds going toward the Scottsdale construction project.
"Architectural redesign is also under way. All services originally designated will still be part of the package," Paikowsky said.
Those services include the Valley of the Sun Jewish Community Center; the Council for Jews With Special Needs; the Bureau of Jewish Education; federation offices; the Jewish Community Foundation; and a satellite location for Phoenix Hebrew Academy.
"We feel it's a great, positive development and will enable us to provide ancillary facilities, including ball fields and soccer fields," Paikowsky said.
Ron Bookbinder, chairman of the JCC task force, said the additional acreage also means the campus can have all its parking on the surface, rather than underground, and that there will be room for an amphitheater as part of the project.
"It makes such a wonderful project. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," Bookbinder said. "The task force has worked very, very hard for many months on the Shea project. Now we have an opportunity for a campus twice the size."
He noted also that demographic studies show that the biggest growth in Jewish population locally is occurring in the northeast Valley.
Lahr, meanwhile, said fund raising is going very well. He said the campaign raised another $75,000 last week, and he expects that the move to Scottsdale will help the fund-raising effort. So far, nearly $15 million has been pledged or donated. The total campaign goal is $25 million.
Bookbinder emphasized that construction will not begin until the campaign goal has been reached, although he noted that the proceeds from the sale of the Shea property will go toward meeting the $25 million goal.
"We absolutely will not break ground until all the money is raised," he said.
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