Rubonia Community Center renovations underway

RUBONIA -- The old kitchen at the Rubonia Community Center has already been demolished and the ceiling insulation was on its way out Friday as the closed center is renovated.

Work was well underway Friday to renovate the center, 1309 72nd St. E., for its summer reopening.

"Property management is out here going to reconstruct the kitchen, new appliances and cabinets," said Eric Angersoll, building supervisor in the county's property management department. "Right now we are replacing all the ceiling tile and grid because it is in bad shape and the air conditioner is going to be fixed because I don't think it is working anymore. We are going to polish and wax the floors and try to make it nice for the community again."

The county has been out at the center, which has been closed since 2013, for a week so far and the first phase of renovations is expected to be complete by June 14.

The Rubonia Community Association will run a Summer Youth Program at the center, from June 20 to July 29.

"For the most part, the building on the interior will be completed," Angersoll said. "We will still have to redo the roof."

The Manatee County Commission unanimously approved a $22,304 funding agreement Tuesday with Rubonia Community Association for the summer program. The commission also approved $75,000 for facility and grounds renovations.

There were also crews out on the center grounds Friday morning working.

"They cut all the trees back," Angersoll said of the grounds work. "They brought the field, baseball field, back up. You couldn't even see the clay anymore and we fixed some drainage problems where it was eroding the soil away from the building. ... Just trying to bring things up to code."

As of now, the center will cease operation at the conclusion of the summer program July 29. When the summer program concludes, the county's property management department will go back and make other improvements to the building, Cheri Coryea, the county's neighborhood services director, has said.

The Rubonia Community Association said it hopes to operate the center pass the summer.

"This is where the work starts," Morris Goff, with Rubonia Community Association, said Tuesday. "So far we've been talking, yakking, saying what we can do. Now we got to prove it. We got to put our foot down to show the county commission that we can do it and we can take care of our own."

Claire Aronson, Manatee County reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7024. Follow her on Twitter@Claire_Aronson.

This story was originally published May 13, 2016 at 11:44 AM with the headline "Rubonia Community Center renovations underway ."