Tyson donates $750,000 to pump up Jones Center

SPRINGDALE — A $750,000 gift from Tyson Foods and other donations will help the 21-year-old Jones Center triple the size of its fitness area, remodel its cafeteria and more, the center’s director said Monday.

Tyson announced the gift at the center’s Big Night gala on Saturday, when other supporters pitched in an additional $65,000, center Director Ed Clifford said. The work should start in December and wrap up next summer, according to a news release from Tyson.

“Why not?” Clifford said about the renovations. “The whole downtown’s being remade. This’ll be the hub for fitness and recreation and meetings. It’s time to update it.”

The Jones Center sprawls over more than 200,000 square feet off Emma Avenue, near the Razorback Greenway and the spot where Tyson is building a new corporate office. The center offers after-school programs and sports classes and regularly hosts public schools that are waiting for their own buildings as well as preschool and after-school programs, vaccination clinics and community events — all at low or no cost. Clifford said more than 5,200 people are center members.

The fitness center is in a wedge-shaped room at one corner of the cafeteria and overlooks the nearby basketball court. Jones Center officials plan to triple the fitness area by expanding it into the cafeteria area and adding an exercise studio classroom.

A newly designed cafe will offer meals on the cafeteria side and smoothies on the fitness side, Clifford said.

The cafeteria was empty Monday afternoon and the center was mostly quiet, but Ginny O’Neal and Jewel Brown of Springdale were using the fitness center’s bicycles, free weights, treadmills and other machines to work out.

The two said they had been going there three times a week for about a month.

“Because I’m old,” O’Neal joked. “I got to when I was just sitting around the house.”

Now, the two said, they feel rejuvenated, and they’re looking forward to a bigger space.

“You have to come a certain time of day to get machines,” Brown said, pointing to their habit of arriving about 2:30 p.m. “I think it’s wonderful.”

The eating and party area will be about half its current size after the gym expansion, but Clifford said he expected the same number of people will be able to use it.

Most of the tables now are spaced 10 to 15 feet apart.

“Tyson Foods has supported the Jones Center for many years and certainly understands the impact it has on the community,” spokesman Derek Burleson said Monday, pointing to about $6 million that Tyson and the Tyson family have sent the center’s way since 2003.

“There was a need to sort of refresh some of the amenities.”

Tyson’s donation will also help with the ongoing renovation of the center’s conference area and with the reshaping of the west entrance into the cafeteria, Clifford said.

The work shouldn’t disrupt the center’s activities, he added.

“We don’t want more space; we want to make different use of the space,” he said.

Still, “it’s a big change,” Clifford said. “It’s going to be exciting.”