43
Capital Gains in Park
Photo
LIKE NEW: The Boardman Park Lariccia Family Community Center, which resembles a spacious mountain lodge, is the first project in the park’s $2.2 million capital campaign. The Lariccia’s donated $200,000 toward the renovation of the former community center, which is the first major update since it was built in 1977.
Photo
TAKING A LOOK: Dana, Mary and Tony Lariccia check out the Boardman Park Larricia Family Community Center with Paul Mastriana. The Larricia’s were the first to donate money to the park campaign. Tony Lariccia said he thinks the center is a beautiful thing to have in Boardman Park.
The design incorporates columns of 24-inch-diameter white spruce tree trunks from the Pacific Northwest.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
Donations, a vision to bring the park’s beauty inside and green technology melded together in the completion of the Boardman Park Lariccia Family Community Center.
The center, which resembles a spacious mountain lodge, is the first project in the park’s $2.2 million capital campaign.
“I love it all,” said Tony Lariccia. “I think it’s a beautiful thing to have in Boardman Park, which has been such an asset to the community for 62 years.”
His wife, Mary, agreed.
“It’s gorgeous,” she said. “It’s wonderful to have something like this in the Valley.”
The Lariccia family were the first donors who became involved in the park campaign, donating $200,000 toward renovation of the former community center.
Besides the Lariccia family, other top contributors include Helen Stambaugh, $100,000; Boardman Rotary Club, $75,000; SJK Charitable Trust and Kennedy Family Trust, $50,000 each; and Huntington Bank Foundation, $45,000.
The renovation is the first major change to the center since its 1977 construction.
The 4M Company of the township designed the 2,100-square-foot building which was completed in four months. DSV Builders of Niles was the general contractor.
“We did it on time and under budget,” said Bob Mastriana, one of the 4M architects.
The budget was $1.075 million and construction cost $1.019 million. The company incorporated green, or environmentally friendly, materials and technology in construction.
The first event in the new building, a Boardman Rotary meeting, was June 2. Seating for the expanded meeting room is 120, up from 48 before the project.
The completed section is Phase 1 of the center and includes a new commercial kitchen, renovated and enlarged rest rooms and new heating and air conditioning.
Phase 2 of the renovation, to be done as funds allow, involves renovation and expansion of another meeting room, known as the multi-purpose room, to increase its seating capacity from 112 to 232 people.
The public has responded to the new facility by booking it for most weekends during graduation season, said Dan Slagle, park executive director.
The design, which provides a lodge-type setting, features cathedral ceilings and exposed timber framing of Douglas fir timber trusses connected with heavy iron decorative bolts and plates. Columns of 24-inch diameter white spruce tree trunks adorn the building’s entrance.
The tree trunks were trucked in from the forests of Washington and Oregon, Mastriana said.
The Rotary room features a floor-to-ceiling folding glass wall, known as a Nana Wall, which Mastriana says is unique to the Mahoning Valley.
Large windows allow natural light as well as a view of the outside.
“The interior will change with every season,” Mastriana said, referring to the view.
Dr. Robert C. Johnson, park board chairman, said the expansion is part of the park’s master plan developed in 2002.
“It’s been an amazing thing to watch, from the master plan to seeing it done,” he said.
He’s happy with the result.
“It’s gorgeous,” Dr. Johnson said.
Also part of the design are eight historic lamp posts along the drive and patio. The posts, formerly in the Newport Glen area of the township, have been in storage at the park since the late 1990s.
“They’ve been refurbished and restored,” Dr. Johnson said.
The 1927 posts were made by the Westinghouse Corp.
denise_dick@vindy.com