“It’s part of all of our community”: County Commission asks City to consider full restoration of Thelma Boltin Center

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – At their joint meeting on August 28, the Alachua County Commission voted to ask the Gainesville City Commission to reconsider a previous decision to do a “partial restoration” of Thelma Boltin Center and instead fully restore the building.

In response to emails and calls from the public and a comment from County Commissioner Marihelen Wheeler at the August 8 County Commission meeting, the Gainesville City Commission’s April decision to “partially restore” the Thelma Boltin Center was placed on the agenda of this joint meeting. 

Before City of Gainesville Project Manager Peter McNiece could even start his presentation, County Commissioner Ken Cornell made a motion that the City Commission reconsider the direction they had given related to the Thelma Boltin Center “and consider a partial restoration instead of a demolition and reconstruction.”

City Commissioner Bryan Eastman pointed out that the City Commission had voted to do a “partial restoration and reconstruction” and asked McNiece to make his presentation.

History of the building

McNiece reviewed the history of the Thelma Boltin Center, which is located at the southern edge of the Duck Pond and was built during World War II to provide a place for servicemen to relax and participate in recreational activities like dances. McNiece said there was a shortage of materials when it was built, “and as a result, the building has some structural deficiencies that have led us to where we are today.” He said the building was last renovated in 1999 and has “fallen into considerable disrepair.”

The City was working on plans for a renovation when the roof of the building collapsed in December 2020, revealing major structural problems. In April 2023, the City Commission decided to keep two facades of the auditorium and demolish the rest of the facility, rebuilding it with a similar architectural style at a cost of $5.6 million, funded by Wild Spaces Public Places (WSPP). McNiece said the next step is for the City Commission to approve a $469,000 contract to do the design work for the building, and that will be on the consent agenda of the commission’s September 7 meeting.

Another option is to do just the work required to fix the roof and address some HVAC and electrical problems for under half a million dollars. 

City Commissioner Ed Book said the third option is to spend $5.4-$6.2 million (with no guarantee of how high it could go if additional deficiencies were found) to fully restore the building, and the fourth option is to do nothing. He pointed out that the City’s Historic Preservation Board recommended the partial restoration option at an estimated cost of $5.6 million. Book said he had voted for the “partial restoration” option because it “would maintain the flair.. and would involve increased size, increased program space.”

Eastman: “If we want this building to exist for generations to come, there has to be a determination as to what kind of investments we’re going to make”

City Commission Bryan Eastman said he initially thought it would be “a no-brainer” to just repair the building for under half a million, as opposed to spending over $5 million to restore it, but he changed his mind after touring the building and realizing that the walls are not reinforced by steel and have been damaged by termites and water. He added, “Really, at the end of the day, if we want this building to exist for generations to come, there has to be a determination as to what kind of investments we’re going to make to the real underlying issues that are part of that building.”

Cornell said it wasn’t his intention “to dive into your decision… I would just ask that you [take some time] to reconsider that, versus putting it on [the consent agenda]… You’re the ones telling us that you have significant budget constraints, and the citizens are telling you, ‘Don’t spend the money’… It’s up to you, totally.”

City Commissioner Casey Willits said, “It’s not so much a budget issue, because… we’ve got a lot of Wild Spaces Public Places money over the course of the next couple of years… We’ve made a decision to spend a very big chunk of it in one place.” Willits said he would rather have $5 million to get a good park in southwest Gainesville, his district, but he realized there’s “a whole bunch of stuff in front of my park.” He pointed out that the County had split part of their WSPP funds between the municipalities, “and if y’all want to give us 100% instead of splitting it nine ways… I welcome it.” He said the City needs to consider the capabilities they will want 20 or 30 years in the future and that he didn’t think the City Commission would change their minds.

Prizzia: “I feel like this sets up a pretty dangerous precedent”

Prizzia said she understood why Cornell wants the City to reconsider, but “I feel like this sets up a pretty dangerous precedent of us going back and forth across, every time they don’t agree with something we’ve decided or every time we don’t agree… I know it wasn’t an easy decision to make… and I’m not saying that I agree with the decision that was made, but I also don’t feel like it’s my place to weigh in on that decision. Because it’s not.”

Public comment

During public comment, Matthew Hurst pointed out that “partial restoration” doesn’t sound like what it is, which is “everything has to be torn down except for parts of two walls… I think it’s more that people want a different building there.”

Melanie Barr said the Center is a “significant state and national building. There’s no other building in the state of Florida that was built for recreation for the soldiers… We have a sagging roof, no doubt about it. But there are special category grants for a historic building–half a million dollars that could have been applied for.”

At that point, Prizzia said the City Commission no longer had a quorum because the Mayor and two commissioners had left earlier to do a press conference about Idalia, and then Willits also left. Prizzia added that she had to leave at 8:00. She said the public could continue with their comments because the County Commission still had a quorum, and that was the body that would be voting on the motion.

Robert Mounts said the “partial restoration is really a demolition” because the City wants “to build a whole new building, get more bang for the buck.” He said they should “do it right… under the principles of historic preservation.” Prizzia left after Mounts spoke.

Eastman: “The decision that we made was one that I thought was a good compromise”

After public comment, Eastman said, “There are no easy answers… The decision that we made was one that I thought was a good compromise position between a full, complete tear-down, which was what many people were pushing for, and the sort of band-aid option, as we talked about, and then the full restoration, which was so prohibitively expensive while still not getting it back to… a place that people would actually be able to see the arts, they would be able to be a part of a community, they would be able to meet with one another.” Eastman asked the County Commissioners to not vote on the motion, as they also wouldn’t appreciate it if the City Commission questioned their decisions on Dogwood Village or the meat processing facility: “I don’t think that is a productive use of the way that we govern.”

Cornell said if the County Commission makes a decision that City Commissioners get a lot of emails about, “I would have no problem with us reconsidering that decision… I would also say that this is my district as well… so I feel perfectly appropriate that we should be talking about this.”

Cornell: “I would ask that y’all consider the full restoration”

Cornell said that after listening to the public, “I don’t think you should do a band-aid. And so I would ask that y’all consider the full restoration” and work with the Friends of Thelma Boltin to raise money to pay for anything over the initial estimate, similar to what the County did with Camp Cuscowilla.

Book said that if they allocated more money to a full restoration, other projects planned for WSPP funds would not be completed, so if the County Commission really wanted them to reconsider, they should consider putting up some of their WSPP money.

Cornell said his understanding was that the full restoration was $5.4 million, less than the “partial restoration,” although it has more uncertainty. He suggested moving forward with the full restoration and asking the Friends of Thelma Boltin to start raising money, “and then if you have cost overruns, come back to the County… I don’t want to make your decision. All I’m asking for is that you all reconsider it and have a discussion because I can’t find anyone [that agrees] with your decision.”

Book pointed out that other benefits of the “partial restoration” were that the square footage would increase and the space could be made more useful for different types of programming. 

Wheeler: “I call it environmental Alzheimer’s”

Wheeler said, “I’m all about historic preservation, and I’m all about trying to retain as many of our iconic places as possible in the community because they’re the way I navigate through the city. It’s really hard when you go through and all of the old sites that you use to orient yourself are gone. I call it environmental Alzheimer’s, you know, you don’t know where you are anymore. It’s because the environment has changed so desperately. But I also know that there’s another generation coming on behind us who may not even care about this.”

City Commission Desmon Duncan-Walker said she looks at other parts of the world that are able to maintain buildings for 400 years or more, and “I would love to see us really begin to be intentional about the fabric of this community… Equitable development, for me, is about historic and heritage preservation, as well.” She said she would rather have these conversations in public than for County Commissioners to “curse us out under your breath… I’m always willing to have these types of conversations.”

County Commission Vice Chair Mary Alford said she would appreciate it if the City Commission had “another conversation. I feel weird asking it… but I do believe that it’s part of all of our community and all of our history.”

Motion and vote

Cornell restated the motion, which was to ask that the City “reconsider the current direction related to the Thelma Boltin Center and consider a full restoration instead of a partial restoration. And also consider working with the Friends of Thelma Boltin.”

The motion was approved 4-0, with Prizzia absent.