Weight room about to add more muscle
If you’ve stopped by McMinnville Civic Center to work out in the weight room recently, chances are you haven’t had much luck.
That’s because the weight room is currently undergoing renovations designed to enlarge the space. Construction, including knocking down the wall that encased the entrance areas to the weight room, began Monday.
Parks and Recreation Director Carlene Brown said the new space will encompass the old hallway and a conference room. She said the reason for the renovation is due to increased demand.
About 20 new pieces of equipment are expected to be added to the collection of mostly free-weight equipment in an effort to reach more people.
“With the new stuff that we’re going to put in, we’re going to address all the needs. Most of our stuff now is free weights, but we’re going to also do strength training with the stabilizing machines, cardio conditioning with treadmills, an elliptical rider, that kind of stuff,” Brown said.
Maintenance supervisor Garvis Stafford, working on the project in-house, said expanding the space to include the hallway and adjacent conference room is expected to provide about 500 square feet of new space for weightlifters.
While the weight room has been closed this week, officials anticipate enough work will have been done to allow the weight room to be open for use again after this weekend.
Brown said costs of the new equipment were not determined yet, but City Administrator Herb Llewellyn noted about $30,000 was budgeted for improvements.
“We’re looking at a couple of options right now, a straight purchase or we may go with a lease purchase, but we were ready to start immediately,” Brown said. “By increasing the room, the daylight and atmosphere of the room was the first improvement, so that was the first step. The second will be putting the equipment in and we’re even going to open up our locker room in the future.”
Additionally, plans are to update the aerobics area and a staff person is expected to be hired.
“Both of these areas are highly-used parts of our Civic Center. It’s a growing need in the community. It’s going to be able to serve the senior adults and people who also need rehab,” Brown added.