PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — An anonymous donor has pledged $1.5 million to help build the proposed multimillion-dollar community center, city officials announced Friday.
The pledge was made in memory of Rodney Smith, a pioneer in the semiconductor industry who achieved great success in California’s Silicon Valley, according to Kimberly Smith, who is not related and is the city’s grant writer.
Rodney Smith’s wife, Mary Barton Akeley Smith of California, is a Presque Isle native who in the past has donated millions of dollars to Presque Isle in her family’s memory, including a $5 million gift to Northern Maine Community College for a wellness center, a $1.2 million gift to NMCC that greatly advanced its alternative energy program offerings, and $1 million to help expand the Mark and Emily Turner Memorial Library.
Kimberly Smith said Friday that despite the gift being made in Rodney Smith’s memory, the donor insisted on remaining anonymous.
Steve and Lucy Richard, co-chairs of the Presque Isle Community Center Fundraising Campaign Committee, said in a joint statement released Friday that they were thrilled with the donation.
“With these funds, we know that we will now be able to move forward and break ground on this wonderful facility that will have such an impact on our community,” they said in the release.
Presque Isle voters in 2012 approved a $7.5 million bond for the community center project, but construction could not begin until the campaign committee raised $3.7 million in matching donations, according to Kimberly Smith. As of Friday, she said, the committee has $3.8 million.
She noted that while bids for the project came in higher than anticipated, city councilors revised their work and brought the project back within budget.
“While we have reached our initial goal, our work is not done,” she said Friday. “We are going to continue fundraising to see if we can get $200,000 or $300,000 more for landscaping, bleachers and to buy new furniture instead of putting the old furniture in there.”
The new community center is to be located on 8 acres on Chapman Street. The site was chosen because it’s near downtown, the bicycle path and Riverside Park, which is where the department runs its soccer program. Plans call for a 30,000-square-foot, single-story facility that will feature a walking track, gymnasium, locker, meeting rooms, space for citizen groups and other amenities. It also will include an outdoor pool and splash pad.
It will replace The William V. Haskell Community Center, which was built in 1964 as a place where youths and adults could gather to exercise, hold meetings and conduct other activities. City officials have said the three roofs on the building are leaking, floor joists are beginning to rot, the electrical service is outdated, asbestos is in the walls and ceiling panels, and the chimney is cracked and breaking up, among other problems.