So many married couples in Walnut Creek find themselves the guardians of large houses gradually uncluttered by children. For the Contra Costa JCC, the opposite is the case: The children just keep coming, and coming, and coming.
Adding to the Jewish Community Center’s quandary is the less-than-stellar condition of its current home, an old 1950s-era vintage elementary school sitting on a massive tract of open space.
As Michael Peiser, the chairman of the JCC’s design and construction committee diplomatically puts it, the old school is not large enough and “too dysfunctional.”
In December, years of discussion coalesced into a tangible proposal for the future when the JCC dropped off plans with the city of Walnut Creek for a $35 million reconstruction project.
The center hopes to put the old schoolhouse out of its misery and construct a three-story campus containing more usable space within the existing edifice.
The campus plan gained favor over initial suggestions of constructing separate buildings over the eight-acre site. This way, Peiser suggested, the JCC can establish a cohesive center of the campus and build up instead of out to maximize usage of its valuable land.
Modeled after the JCC of San Francisco, the Walnut Creek campus hopes to erect a large glass lobby with three wings attached. Within the campus would be classrooms, adult areas, a teen club, a day school, a fitness center and an auditorium/banquet room.
The only structure that will remain is the JCC’s pool.
Peiser puts the estimate for the 85,000-square-foot structure at $35 million. The JCC has already received anonymous gifts of $5 million and $1 million.
And while the JCCSF has been a major inspiration, the Walnut Creek structure won’t carry its massive 240,000-square-foot size or $60 million price tag.
In order to raise that hefty total, the JCC plans on selling off two-and-a-half acres of undeveloped land on the southeastern side of its campus currently hosting a plant nursery, for development into 138 upscale condominium units with subterranean parking.
The redevelopment has raised some eyebrows in the vicinity of the JCC’s Tice Valley Boulevard neighborhood, and several groups have vociferously objected to various aspects of the center’s plans, most notably the condos.
One group has pushed for tennis courts on the site instead, but Peiser sardonically noted that he won’t be able to raise tens of millions of dollars that way “unless you play a hell of a lot of tennis.”
With neighbors’ concerns in mind, the JCC hired development consultant John Wyro to communicate with concerned groups and, last week, asked the city to postpone its application indefinitely until it has gotten neighbors’ feedback.
Wyro said that, realistically, the JCC won’t be resubmitting its application before the end of the year or early 2007. If all goes well, he speculated, ground might be broken in mid-’07.
Peiser welcomed community feedback, noting that with “those who want rational dialogue, we’ll have rational dialogue, with those who want to yell and scream, we’ll listen to them scream.”
While some groups have objected to the JCC’s plans to build three stories, Peiser noted that the city of Walnut Creek built a 45-foot-tall gym on their property recently.
He also objected to development opponents characterizing the proposed condos as “high-rises” when they, too, are slated to max out at 45 feet.
“In Walnut Creek, if you go above two stories, they call it a high-rise.”
While any battle over whether or not the JCC can sell off its land for condo development looms in the future, Peiser is adamant that the JCC cannot build its dream home without the money the condos would generate.
“Can we build the campus without the sale of land? Highly dubious.”