GONZALES — Gonzales City Council awarded the design-build contract for the Dennis and Janice Caprara Community Center to the Otto Construction/WRNS Studio team on June 6.
The community center will be constructed on a city-owned parcel at Gabilan Court and Fifth Street, just east of Fairview Middle School. The entire complex will be approximately 13,314 square feet and include a community center with a large multi-purpose room, indoor/outdoor stage, flexible meeting rooms, restrooms, offices, fitness room and a teaching/catering kitchen.
In addition, Monterey County Free Libraries’ Gonzales Branch Library will be relocated from the current location in the Gonzales Shopping Center to the complex. Also planned to be built are the Teen Innovation Center as well as on-site parking and areas for outdoor activities.
The estimated budget for the entire project is $34.8 million. The project has been broken down into two phases so it can be built as funds become available.
City of Gonzales currently has the funds to build phase one, which is estimated to cost $21 million. Funding sources for phase one include Measure X tax funds, County monies, state funding and several grants.
The City is also engaged in a $10 million capital campaign and has raised nearly $6.5 million so far.
Otto Construction was established in 1947 and has offices in Monterey and Sacramento. The company has constructed award-winning, multimillion-dollar facilities throughout Northern and Central California.
WRNS Studio is an architecture firm with offices in San Francisco, Honolulu, Seattle and New York and has partnered with Otto Construction on numerous projects over the past 15 years.
The team will begin the design and permitting process this month, which will take about 10 months.
Groundbreaking is scheduled for early 2024, and the ribbon cutting is currently scheduled for December 2025.
For more information about the community center and the capital campaign, go to cfmco.org/GonzalesCommunityCenter.
