The St. Paul Jewish Community Center, a fixture on St. Paul Avenue in the Highland Park neighborhood for more than 50 years, has started a $13 million expansion and overhaul of its 1960s building.

The 38,000-square-foot renovation and addition, which began in early June, will bring a new aquatics center, improved fitness and theater spaces, new gathering areas and a secure, two-story front entrance to the award-winning building at 1375 St. Paul Ave.

Minneapolis-based Kraus-Anderson is overseeing construction, and LSE Architects of Minneapolis has design duties. LSE Architects has been working with the center for at least two years.

The organization has raised close to $11 million toward its $13 million goal for the project, said Soni Cohen, chief communications officer for the St. Paul Jewish Community Center.

The center’s programming continues to thrive and is “stronger than ever,” but the existing building hasn’t kept pace, Cohen said. “It was time to take a look and figure out, ‘What do we want to do?’” Cohen said.

The center studied a number of options, including relocation, but ultimately decided to stay put and improve the existing building, she said.

“The building has a lot of character and history. What they needed to do was reimagine the current facility for the future,” Cohen said.

Michael Waldman, the center’s CEO, said the existing mid-century modern building with curved, red brick walls features an award-winning design by Leonard Parker, a renowned Minneapolis architect.

Parker’s firm, Leonard Parker and Associates, designed the Minneapolis Convention Center and other notable public buildings. As Finance & Commerce reported in a July 2004 feature, Parker’s first major project was the St. Paul Jewish Community Center. Parker died in 2011 at age 88.

“It’s a beautiful building and it was well-designed,” Waldman said. “We want to honor what is here.”

Founded in 1930, the St. Paul Jewish Community Center has a business model that’s similar to the YMCA. The center is open to all members of the community and has about 5,000 members. The welcome desk saw about 150,000 visits last year, Waldman said.

The center initially opened within a two-story brick building at 741 Holly Ave. in St. Paul’s Summit Hill neighborhood, according to the organization’s website.

After selling the Holly Avenue building in the mid-1950s, the organization briefly relocated to a site at Juno and Cretin avenues in St. Paul before building the existing facility in 1964, the website noted.

The building on St. Paul Avenue has seen a number of updates and expansions. Between 1991 and 1996, Kraus-Anderson worked on upgrades that included a new day care, an addition and remodel, and a roof replacement.

A centerpiece of the current project is the new front entry. Featuring large windows, the glass entry will provide controlled access to the building for the safety of visitors, according to the project website.

Also in the works is an ambitious aquatics complex featuring separate pools for adults and children, a 25-yard lap pool, a recreation pool with a water slide and play features, a whirlpool on the deck, and new mechanical systems.

A refreshed performing arts center will feature a 250-seat theater with modern “sound, lighting, audio visual and Wi-Fi capabilities to deliver up-to-date experience,” according to the website. Waldman said the new space will have flexible seating. The current auditorium is set up for seating with fold-up chairs, he said.

New gathering places and fitness facilities with reconstructed locker rooms are also planned.

Jamie Engelsma, project manager for Kraus-Anderson, said the project will be phased to allow the building to remain open during construction.

The first phase, which includes replacing the locker room and pool structure, is scheduled to wrap up in February. The remaining work, including the front entry and theater improvements, will take place over the following four months once the first phase is complete, he said. The overall project should be complete in about a year.

Engelsma said a portion of the building that includes the pool and locker rooms will be torn down and replaced with bigger and better facilities. The “iconic” portion of the building that faces St. Paul Avenue will remain, Waldman said.

In the existing building, locker rooms are stacked on three different levels, said Mohammed Lawal, principal architect/CEO of LSE Architects. The new design improves accessibility by putting men’s, women’s and family locker facilities on the same level with the pool.

The new glass front entry will complement the existing red brick building without trying to match it, Lawal said.

A ceremonial groundbreaking is scheduled for June 21.

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