Robert B. Goebel General Contractor Inc., of Spokane, has been awarded a contract to build the $35 million Salvation Army Coeur dAlene Ray & Joan Kroc Corps Community Center, in Coeur dAlene.


Terry Goebel, vice president of R.B. Goebel, says the company is doing the site work now for the Coeur dAlene Parks Foundation on the centers 12-acre location at 2903 Ramsey Road, at the northwest corner of Ramsey and Golf Course roads a few blocks north of Interstate 90. The Parks Foundation, an independent nonprofit organization, currently owns the land, but plans to turn it over to the Salvation Army before construction begins.


Goebel says he expects construction of the centers facilities to begin about July 1.


Before that work begins, however, the community must raise an additional $1.8 million, to reach its $6 million commitment to the project, says Maj. John Chamness, Inland Northwest coordinator for the Salvation Army, adding that hes confident the community will raise the funds.


Construction of the center is scheduled to take 16 months, and its opening is planned for late fall 2008.


Goebel says Coeur dAlene was chosen in a competitive selection process as a site for a Kroc Center in part because of lack of aquatic facilities in North Idaho. The need was huge, he says.


The Kroc Center will have seven pools, he says, adding, Each pool will have its own environment.


Chamness says the largest pool will be a 10-lane swimming competition pool that he anticipates will be used by high school swim teams.


The designers of the Kroc Center are Denver-based Barker Rinker Seacat Achitecture, which specializes in aquatic facilities; Miller Stauffer Architects PA, of Coeur dAlene; and Coeur dAlene-based Architects West, which also is providing civil engineering services for the project.


Along with the pools, the 123,000-square-foot facility will have a multipurpose gym, an indoor running track, a 350-seat chapel-performing arts theater, a fitness center, administrative offices, meeting and event space, a climbing wall, a commercial kitchen, an indoor playground, and a recording studio.


The centers grounds also will have an outdoor amphitheater and about 400 parking spaces.


The Salvation Army Ray & Joan Kroc Corps Community Center Foundation set aside $60 million for the Kroc Center. Half of the funds will be used to build the facility, and half will be held in an endowment to help operate it.


The Kroc Center will have 28 to 32 full-time employees, 120 to 150 part-time employees, and an annual budget of about $3.5 million, Chamness says. Operating costs will be funded through the $30 million endowment, membership fees, and community donations. The Salvation Army will own the complex.


Coeur dAlene was among six cities selected last spring to share in the first $250 million distribution from the Ray & Joan Kroc Foundation. The other cities were Honolulu; Long Beach, Calif.; Phoenix; Salem, Ore.; and San Francisco.


The foundation is named for Ray Kroc, the founder of the McDonalds Corp. restaurant chain, and his wife, Joan Kroc. Joan Kroc gave the Salvation Army more than $1.5 billion upon her death in 2004, with the condition that the funds be used toward construction and operation of community centers. Ray Kroc, who died in 1984, was also an advocate of the evangelical Christian organization.


R.B. Goebel is also the general contractor for the $40 million, 18-story Parkside Tower, which is under construction at 601 Front in downtown Coeur dAlene.


Contact Mike McLean at (509) 344-1266 or via e-mail at mikem@spokanejournal.com.