The city of Brooklyn Park hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for its new teen center on Monday, where officials touted new amenities, they believe will improve the quality of life for area youth and young adults.
The new center will be located at the existing Zane Recreation Center on 7100 Zane Avenue North and will feature a tech center by Best Buy, a gymnasium and a game lounge among other amenities. It will also house the offices of the Brooklyn Bridge Alliance for Youth, a partnership between the cities of Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center and Hennepin County that supports youth development.
“Every resident in our city of Brooklyn Park matters, their future is incredibly important, and when we say a village, we’re not talking about a village for the folks who are just doing great, doing well, right?” Mayor Hollies Winston said. “We’re talking about folks that maybe are figuring it out, or they’re just on the path to figuring it out, but they need just a little bit of extra resource, or they need something positive for youth to do.”
Winston said the teen center is for the benefit of all the youth in the city and not just those south of 85th Avenue.
“Because there are things that kids below 85th got access to that are not necessarily above 85th, and vice versa,” said Winston.
The project has been in the works since 2018 when city voters passed a $26 million park referendum that allocated $2 million to the teen center. The city council last year approved $7 million of the referendum funds to go towards the center, with the rest coming in the form of grants from Hennepin County and other sources.
Hennepin County Commissioner Jeffrey Lunde, who was the mayor when voters passed the referendum, said at the groundbreaking that city leaders – as far back as Mayor Steve Lampi that preceded him – and to the current Winston administration, have always valued the youth and committed to ensuring they feel important.
“We are all united by the simple idea that when we invest in youth, great things can happen,” Lunde said. “I always think the missing ingredient is hope, and where a kid has hope, anything is possible. Nothing is possible for anybody if they don’t have hope.”
Lunde praised the city for earning the distinction of providing the data and analysis to justify the need for the center saying “We track. We can catalog. We can prove the value of this.”
Jon Kainz, president and CEO of Donlar Construction, was on hand for the groundbreaking ceremony. His company was in September 23, 2024 awarded a $9.8 million contract by the city for the construction. He said his company has a long history of building projects such as the teen center and has as its mission the goal to “improve people’s lives by building better communities” and that he is committed to ensuring the new center will have state-of-the-art amenities and spaces tailored to the youth.
“We understand that this project belongs to the community, and we are committed to working closely with the city and the stakeholders involved along the way,” Kaiz said. “Donlar prioritizes safety, efficiency, and communication on all our projects, and we will continue to do this throughout the construction process on your new community center.”
“This facility will be a hub of activity,” he continued. “Fostering community connections, and empowering the next generation of leaders.”
The architectural firm Design By Melo did the architectural design for the center. One of its latest projects is the six-story $66 million Opportunity Crossing project on the corner of Nicollet Avenue and Lake Street in Minneapolis.
Damaris Hollingsworth, Design By Melo’s principal architect in brief remarks at the groundbreaking said “I see this project as something that even before the door is open, even before the amazing staff is doing the work they do, it’s already doing something.”
Parks and Facilities Manager Marcus Hill said that the teen center will help address the number one thing he has heard from young people – that they want food and access to jobs and internships.
“We are set to open our doors right around Christmas of 2025, the building (Zanewood) is closed during construction for eight weeks during the summer” Hill said. “We’re super excited about this project, two years in the making, and we’re finally here.”
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About Richard Ooga, Mshale PhotoJournalist
Richard Ooga is Mshale Newspaper's chief photographer.
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