Listen to this articleRACINE, Wisconsin – Racine officials have given the green light to construction of a new $68 million community center, with construction expected to begin in October.
The Racine City Council voted 12-3 on Tuesday to enter into a bond and development agreement with Lincoln King Community Center Development Partners LLC, a subsidiary of Pepper Construction, to build the Lincoln King Community Center.
The city plans to build a 75,000-square-foot community center and health clinic between Wilson Street and Dr. Martin Luther King Drive, one block north of Julian Thomas Elementary School. The building will have a large gymnasium, a running track, a climbing wall, classrooms, computer labs and other facilities for after-school programs.
“After more than four years of planning and outreach, we are ready to build this facility that will transform neighborhoods that have endured some of the most extreme economic and racial inequalities in the country,” Racine Mayor Cory Mason said in a statement. “This project brings together the community center, health center and educational programs under one roof, becoming more than the sum of their parts. This will bring positive improvements to the city of Racine for decades to come,” he added.
Planning and design of the building will be led by Milwaukee-based SmithGroup, which won the contract in 2022. Pepper Construction is the project’s general contractor and Concord Group will serve as the owner’s representative. To provide pre-construction outreach, SmithGroup worked with Payne Consulting on community engagement.
The project will be larger than the existing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center and will offer 50% more space, city officials said. The existing community center will remain open during construction and will close and move its programming to the new center once construction is complete, officials added.
Construction is scheduled to begin in October, authorities said. The project is expected to be completed in August 2026 and the building is expected to be occupied in the third quarter of 2026.
The project will be 100% union labor and will require 319,000 hours of labor, according to Racine officials. It will create 160 construction jobs and 20% of the labor hours will be provided by Racine residents through a local program.
The project uses federal, state and local funds as well as donations from private organizations.
The City Council’s approval on Tuesday means the city can issue up to $21 million in bridge financing bonds and allow construction to begin in October. The council also approved a request to allocate $8.1 million from the American Rescue Plan Act to support the project.
The project’s major donors so far include Ascension, We Energies and the Pat Connaughton Foundation, founded by the Milwaukee Bucks player. The project has around $4 million in private donations and up to $20 million from state and federal partners.
Project plans include a parking canopy with photovoltaic panels, permeable pavement and geothermal systems to round out the sustainable features. The project, dubbed Racine’s first net-zero building, will also feature rooftop solar panels, a rainwater collection system and a bioretention pond.
The King Center will include a federally qualified health center that will provide affordable medical and mental health services to all residents, including those receiving Medicaid benefits, Racine officials said. Racine-based PillarHealth will operate the medical center.
“The health center will address the shortage of medical professionals in Racine that makes it difficult for residents to obtain affordable care. It will also improve the availability of mental health care,” said Dottie-Kay Bowersox, the city’s health administrator.
