NEW YORK— Mayor de Blasio, New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), members of the Owens family, and elected leaders today celebrated the grand opening of the Major R. Owens Health and Wellness Community Center. The state-of-the-art, 60,000 square-foot retrofitted drill shed will serve Crown Heights as a neighborhood recreation center, complete with a 25-meter, six-lane competitive swimming pool, basketball courts, and a multi-purpose court able to accommodate a wide variety of sports, including soccer and community programming.
“Investing in our people and communities, especially in ones that have often been overlooked, is how we build a recovery for all of us,”
said Mayor Bill de Blasio.
“The Major R. Owens Health and Wellness Community Center will provide New Yorkers a place to thrive and grow for generations to come.”
The wellness center is now open to the public. Standard memberships for the gym within the center cost $30 per month, while seniors and low-income adults below the 200% Federal Poverty Level can join for $10 per month and youth memberships are as little as $8 per month. Additionally, 50% of memberships will be discounted to $10 per month for residents who live in Community Board 9.
The Major Owens Center will also welcome a variety of tenants to provide the following services and community programming at an accessible rate. With 35,000 square feet of office space for nonprofits, members will have access to a number of Brooklyn community-based organizations that will be permanently housed at the Center, including the Boys’ Club of New York will be the operator of the gym at the Center, providing high quality and diverse programming to the community.
Other local groups offering classes and programs include Imagine Swimming, Inc.; New Heights Youth; Brooklyn Pride; Digital Girl, Inc.; Ifetayo Cultural Arts Academy; Globall Sports Center; and Betty Carter Auditorium for the Arts (BCAA). The partners who operate classes, camps, and programs at the Major R. Owens Health & Wellness Community Center will work to ensure that their offerings are available to those across the Crown Heights community.
The Major Owens Center also has an onsite cogen plant, which will meet all of the project’s heating, cooling and electrical demand, effectively taking the entire 500,000 square-foot project off the ConEd grid, and providing safe haven to the community during brownouts or blackouts during periods of extreme heat.
Also part of the Major R. Owens Health and Wellness Community Center project is 415 units of housing, 60% of which will be much needed affordable housing for low income New Yorkers, as well as a 25,000 square-foot health center, run by Brooklyn Plaza Medical Center. These projects are expected to be completed by 2023.
“We are absolutely thrilled to stand alongside our partners in celebration of the Major R. Owens Health & Wellness Center, welcoming in Crown Heights and Central Brooklyn residents. From afterschool programming and dance lessons to camps and lifesaving swim classes, the Major Owens Center will become a key part of the lives of local Brooklynites,”
said Donald Capoccia, Principal of BFC Partners.
“We are grateful for the support of our elected officials, community advocates and representatives, and nonprofit partners. All of it was necessary to bring this project to life, and we are ecstatic to begin providing safe, reliable and accessible programming and social services to this community.”
Original Source: Office of the Mayor – NYC GOV, Read Full Article Here
