Last steel beam installed at Grand Junction recreation center

By DAN WEST

Dan.West@gjsentinel.com

The final steel beam was hoisted into the air and attached to the top of Grand Junction’s future community recreation center Friday morning with workers and community leaders looking on.

The city held a topping out ceremony to recognize the installation of that final beam, which Mayor Cody Kennedy said is supposed to bring good luck to the building into the future.

“This beam here will be installed at the top of the 45-foot slide tower, which (will be) the tallest indoor water slide in Colorado,” Kennedy said. “Pretty impressive. Over the past few months, hundreds of community members, partners and council members have toured the site and signed this beam. It’s covered with signatures, so this beam is symbolic of this being a true community project.”

Parks and Recreation Director Ken Sherbenou, who spoke prior to the beam’s installation, thanked numerous community members, including contractor FCI, city staff, current and former council members and the people who worked on the recreation center campaign.

“There’s been many milestones in this effort, the first of which came when this first appeal appeared on the ballot back in 1979,” Sherbenou said. “That was not successful over 40 years ago. Since then, there has been a ton of additional effort that has built a stronger and stronger plan from that initial foundation back in 1979 that has led to today.”

The Friday ceremony was an invitation-only event because of the need to limit the number of people on the active construction site. However, Sherbenou said the city was planning to invite the entire community out when the ribbon is cut on the finished facility late next year.

“We’re going to invite everybody in the community,” Sherbenou said. “We’re going to try to get as many people in this facility as we can and kick it off right with the ribbon cutting next year and have the community really understand and experience their new digs at the rec center.”

Those “new digs” will include a number of new amenities for the community to enjoy, including that tall water slide, Kennedy said.

“This will be a state-ofthe- art, all-ages facility including five pools, a lazy river, a wave pool, three courts for basketball, volleyball and pickleball, a fitness center and a community space, senior lounge, family game area, climbing wall, health clinic and more,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy, who endorsed the recreation center ballot measure when he was first running for City Council, said this project would be an asset for the entire community far into the future.

“There’s over 640 tons of steel, 9,000 bolts, 5,000 yards of concrete and 400 tons of rebar,” Kennedy said. “This is saying that this facility is built to last. I’m proud of what this facility says about our community and our future.”

Construction workers who helped on the project smile Friday while signing the final structural steel beam for the community recreation center before it was lifted with a crane and placed atop the frame of the building during a topping off ceremony at Matchett Park.

LARRY ROBINSON/ The Daily Sentinel

Members of the community celebrate as the final structural steel beam is placed atop the frame of the future community recreation center at Matchett Park on Friday.

The final structural steel beam for the community recreation center is lifted with a crane and placed atop the frame of the future community recreation center at Matchett Park on Friday. The beam was covered in signatures from construction crews who had a hand in the project, as well as community members who helped the community rec center become a reality.