Carson City breaks ground on $8.3 million multi-purpose athletic center (MAC) (with video)

Spadework reached the down-and-dirty stage Thursday when ground was broken for Carson City’s new $8.3 million athletic center.

Until now, spadework was a metaphorical term referring to decisions and drawings rather than actual construction. The morning ceremony, which was presided over by Mayor Robert Crowell, put the multi-purpose athletic center (MAC) project on Russell Way just months from reality in the aftermath of two decades moving — sometimes glacially — through formative stages.

“We’re making good on a commitment we made 20 years ago,” Crowell said before his countdown for a host of participants to dig in and turn dirt. Among them were all four supervisors, members of the Parks and Recreation Commission, the contractor, a representative of the architect, the city manager and other city staff, board members with the Boys and Girls Club of Western Nevada and additional dignitaries.

The center, beginning next week, will rise on land near the Boys and Girls Club building at 1870 Russell Way north of U.S. Highway 50 E and just west of the I-580 Freeway. Operations will be handled by city government via a joint use agreement with the club, which currently owns the land. Completion is expected in December. Bill Miles of Miles Construction, the contractor, said work in earnest begins Monday morning.

The 33,400 square foot facility will feature sports courts for team competition, such as basketball and volleyball, along with an elevated jogging/walking track over and around the perimeter of those courts. There will be two collegiate-sized basketball overlaying four smaller courts, plus seating, lockers, offices and the like.