Grand show of support for Carson City's MAC

Dozens gathered Wednesday afternoon in support of the grand opening Carson City’s long-awaited Multi-Purpose Athletic Center (MAC) at 1870 Russell Way.

The MAC, as it has come to be known, is a project twenty years in the making. It began in 1996 as one of a host of improvement projects that the municipality of Carson City hoped to fund from the passing of Question 18, known as the “Quality of Life” ballot measure.

The voter-approved measure authorized a one-fourth cent sales tax increase designed to fund various capital construction and maintenance projects. It also established the city’s open space program, said Carson City Parks and Recreation Director Roger Moellendorf.

But money for an athletic center fell short, Moellendorf said.

“There was a breakdown in the funding of those projects,” he said. “When that happened, there was a ‘wish-list’ that parks and rec wanted to see. …One of those projects was an indoor gym.”

Over the years, Moellendorf said, the other projects on that list had since been funded.

But not the MAC.

Instead, some $6 million dollars allocated to the project from the “Quality of Life” measure had been banked.

“Of all the projects on that list,” he said, “the indoor gym was the only one not funded.”

That began to change, said Moellendorf, when the project was revisited in 2005. But the economic recession hit shortly thereafter and sales tax revenue declined.

Then, in 2014, the Carson City Board of Supervisors approved a one-eighth cent raise in the county sales tax that provided funding for, among other things, the completion of the MAC. About $2.3 million of that tax increase has been allocated to this project.

Carson City officials wasted little time getting the project off the ground once the last of the funding had been secured. VCBO Architecture designed the facility. Ground-breaking for the recreational facility took place in February 2015. Ten months later the state-of-the-art community project is now ready to open its doors for business.

Moellendorf along with Mayor Bob Crowell, members of the Carson City Board of Supervisors, staff from the Carson City Parks and Recreation Department, and the leadership team from the Boys and Girls Club of Western Nevada were on hand for the formal ribbon cutting.

“This is probably the biggest Christmas present Carson City has ever had,” Moellendorf addressed the crowd of hundreds of community supporters. “At one point this project was almost dead on arrival. But that doesn’t matter now because it is here today.”

Mayor Crowell also addressed the crowd, praising support from the community for the realization of the MAC project.

“It’s here only because of you, the citizens of Carson City,” he said. “We’ve been waiting to fulfill an obligation that started almost twenty years ago. And now, let’s play ball!”

Crowell and Bill Miles of Miles Construction were bestowed the honor of shooting the first baskets in the brand-new gym.

“It’s a facility that will provide recreational use for the people of Carson City for many years to come,” Moellendorf told Carson Now.

Featuring two collegiate-sized basketball courts and four smaller courts with permanent spectator seating for up to 650—comprising of about 24,000 square feet of space—as well as a one-eighth mile around elevated perimeter walking and jogging track, the Carson City MAC is poised to provide recreational venues suitable for individual use, team competition, adults and youth alike.

Though more than adequately spacious, the 33,400+ square-foot athletic center won’t be some taxpayer-funded behemoth. It’s expected to pull its own weight and then some as a revenue generator.

“The center will provide an economic benefit to our community and generate enough revenue to help off-set the facility’s cost,” Moellendorf said.

One direct revenue source is the partnership between the Boys and Girls Club of Western Nevada and the municipality of Carson City, providing for the non-profit organization’s exclusive use of the facility during certain days and times of the week.

There will also be revenue generated from league play by community futsal (South American indoor soccer), volleyball and basketball programs.

Plus, Moellendorf said the MAC is equipped to host sizable athletic tournaments, a revenue source the city intends to pursue because of its farther-reaching economic benefits to the community at large.

Basketball, volleyball and indoor soccer tournaments have the potential to generate significant revenue for lodging, restaurants, and retail businesses throughout Carson City. The infusion of economic activity would then translate into indirect tax revenue via the businesses benefitting from tournament action held at the MAC.

Finally, Moellendorf acknowledged that the MAC has been designed to grow and change with Carson City’s recreational needs.

In other words, there is room for expansion, Moellendorf said, and that is an important part of the long-term planning for the MAC.

“It really came down to what we could afford and what our greatest needs were,” he said. “We’ve outgrown our current facilities, and everyone [in Carson City] seems to understand that.”