Boys & Girls Club breaks ground on new clubhouse

EDINBURG -- Every time it rains, the local Boys & Girls Club floods.

Children must mop and sweep water out of the more than 40-year-old building on 18th Street.

Last summer, the area's heavy rains even forced the clubhouse to close a month early.

"It was just unsafe in the building," said Sabrina Walker-Hernandez, chief professional officer for Boys & Girls Club of Edinburg RGV.

"It wasn't designed to be a Boys & Girls Club," she said of the facility, which was designed for health services.

Now, though, the club is getting a new home. On a windy, 20-acre plot at the corner of Rogers Road and Expressway 281, more than a dozen politicians, business leaders and club officials broke ground Friday on a nearly $11.5 million clubhouse designed to replace the tired building.

The new 32,700-square-foot, eco-friendly clubhouse will be surrounded by a track, tennis and basketball courts, a soccer field and a walking trail.

"I can think of no better place," said state Rep. Aaron Peña, D-Edinburg.

Peña attended the ceremony to present a $750,000 check for a park near the clubhouse. The money, an earmark added to the state budget, is a small part of the more than $8 million raised locally for the project.

The majority of that funding, $6 million, came from the Edinburg Foundation, which donated the 20-acre plot and hopes to sell parcels on the expressway's edge to create a programming endowment for the clubhouse, said Byron Lewis, a member of the foundation.

Almost 20,000 children participate in the club's programs, making the Edinburg club the largest in the state, Lewis said.

The building itself, designed by TAG International, will use natural lighting, incorporate an energy-efficient design and collect rainwater from its roof to irrigate the nearby park, project manager and designer Jamie Crawley said.

If all goes as planned, it will be certified by the U.S. Green Building Council and become eligible for significant grant money, Walker-Hernandez said.

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This article has been corrected from its original version, in which project manager and designer Jamie Crawley was misidentified.

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Dave Hendricks covers general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4454.