The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
City shows off new recreation facility
The city of Avon Lake held a grand opening ceremony welcoming the new Anchor recreation facility at the Artstown Plaza on Feb. 21 at 33483 Lake Road.
The city held a ceremonial ribbon cutting, welcoming city officials and members of the community to get the first look along with representatives from the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The multi-court recreation facility takes over the former location of the Avon Lake movie theater and provides a much needed indoor recreation facility. In a collaborative partnership between Avon Lake and the Patton Family, the facility received about $130,000 in upgrades in addition to community sponsorship from PolyOne Corporation, Lubrizol Advanced Materials, Salad Kraze and Sprenger Health Care Systems.
“As the Cavaliers know winning is a team effort and this certainly is a win for the city of Avon Lake. Not only is this going to be a great recreational facility expanding the square footage that we have to put on programs that Tim Pinchek (director of Parks and Recreation) and his whole department is responsible for expanding, but it is also an incredible economic development opportunity for this end of town,” Avon Lake Mayor Greg Zilka said.
In development for the past two years the project fills an area need providing a space for winter recreation programming easing pressure on local schools along with providing a boost to west end economic development attracting more people to the area making it a win-win for recreation programming and area businesses.
“One of the questions that came out over the internet was ‘What has that economic development director (Ted Esborn) been doing for the past year and a half?’ This is an example of what that guy’s been doing and we have a number of other wins as well. I think we’re on the right track and in order to be successful you surround yourself with some really incredible players and people. The Cavs do it and we’re doing it right here in Avon Lake,” Zilka said.
The facility comes with a state of the art 70-by-100foot basketball court along with custom designed batting cages which descend from the ceiling. Anchor will be able to accommodate volleyball, tennis, baseball/softball, pickle ball, fitness classes, lacrosse and a slew of other activities.
The community got the chance to try out the facility for the first time with Cavs Academy coaches Kendall Chones and Jon White leading some eager youngsters through basketball drills. Chones, the Head Coach of the Cavs Academy, is the son of Cavs legend Jim Chones.
The Avon Lake Department of Parks and Recreation has partnered with the Cleveland Cavaliers who jumped at the opportunity to unveil the new facility.
“We have 20,000 junior Cavs kids from Columbus to Rochester, New York and Avon Lake’s a brand new partner and we knew that this facility was coming down the pipeline. We told them day one we’ll be here when it opens and we’d bring Moondog, the Scream Team and our academy coaches, and we’d enjoy it with the rest of the community,” said Scott MacDonald, Cavs Manager of Youth Sports Development and Community Outreach.