BEND, OR -- After years of planning, construction of the new Larkspur Community Center, adjacent to the Bend Senior Center, gets underway in the spring. Bend Parks and Recreation Development Manager Brian Hudspeth says the general contractor is finalizing subcontractors, this month. "Our plan is to award a Guaranteed Maximum Price, which is the piece of the contract that basically says, ‘this is how much money it’s going to cost to build the building.’ We’ll award that contract, and then give them a notice to proceed and that contractor goes to work. Right now, we plan to hopefully start construction, or at least mobilize on-site, sometime in March."

The more than 37,000-square foot addition to the Senior Center on Reed Market Rd. will include a warm water pool and many other amenities, "It has an upstairs walk/jog track and a fitness area upstairs, with treadmills, cardio machines, that kind of stuff," Hudspeth tells KBND News, "And then it has some dedicated fitness rooms, a mind and body room and a fitness room for classes and, of course, locker rooms and about 5,000-square foot of water. The swimming pool will be a warm water pool; it has a lazy river in it."

He says the $21.4 million project is in response to a desire by the community to have more fitness options, "We kind of redid the master plan for the Senior Center, and out of that plan came a bunch of information from public input that led us down the path that we are at today." The Reed Market Road location, he says, provides another option for the parks district to serve those who don't want to travel to Juniper Swim and Fitness. "The southeast side of Bend is the fastest growing – it’s going to be the biggest growing spot in Bend in the next several years. And, this serves that growing need right spot on." Hudspeth says the district has been tucking money away for several years for the project. It should be open by the summer of 2020.