Elizabethtown’s New Town neighborhood will benefit from two grants recently awarded to the city to build a new community center and improve the streetscape along a portion of Martin Luther King (MLK) Drive.
The City of Elizabethtown, along with engineering firms Paul Mattox, Libby Smith and EL Robinson Engineering, has applied for and received a $2,575,000 grant to design and build a 115,000-square-foot community center on Martin Luther King Drive.
At its August meeting, the Elizabethtown City Council awarded the contract to build the community center to DeVane Builders of Elizabethtown, with construction scheduled to begin the next day.
The design of the building was informed by feedback from focus groups that included youth, residents, business owners and clergy from the New Town area. The facility is designed to meet the needs of local residents and features a new playground, covered event space, full-size multi-purpose play surface with bleachers, changing rooms, commercial kitchen, meeting offices and ample parking.
The city was previously awarded a Community Development Block Grant – Neighborhood Revitalization to improve sidewalks and add decorative lighting to make the neighborhood safer and more pedestrian-friendly.
For more information on the plans for the community center, see the Update from August 2024.
