APWA’s Genesee Valley Branch Recognizes Irondequoit Community Center
The Genesee Valley Branch of the American Public Works Association (APWA) has selected the Town of Irondequoit to receive the Project of the Year Award in the Structures $5-25M category for the Irondequoit Community Center.
The APWA Awards Program celebrates outstanding individuals, groups, and chapters representing the best in public works. The Project of the Year Award recognizes agencies from cities or counties with a population of 75,000 or less that demonstrate creativity, ingenuity, and efficiency in the delivery of public works projects that have a profound impact on the community.
Completed in 2021, the Irondequoit Community Center is the adaptive reuse of the long-vacant Irondequoit Mall. Abandoned by retailers, the large empty mall had become an eyesore to residents and a sign of economic decline. Due to its size, finding a new use for the large property was a challenge. In addition, Town officials and residents had long explored the concept of a centralized, Town-operated community and recreation center to serve its multi-generational residents. In 2017, the building’s owners donated a portion of the former mall so it could be redeveloped into a community center.
The completed 42,000 SF Irondequoit Community Center is a vibrant, active, and safe environment for engagement, education, wellness, and recreation. The space consists of a lounge, teen activity room, kitchen and cafeteria, gymnasium, turf play area, walking track, fitness, group exercise, “tot drop,” pre-k classroom, community rooms and more. The new center provides an overdue resource for the community and serves as an anchor in the redevelopment of the long-empty mall space.
SWBR provided architectural, interior design, structural engineering, landscape architecture, and graphic design services for the project.
The awards presentation was held Thursday, April 28 at the RIT Inn and Conference Center in Henrietta, NY.
