By Barbara Bayer
Contributing Writer
Wow!
That’s the reaction people have when they see the expanded and renovated Jewish Community Center — The J.
After several years of discussion, but less than a full year of construction, The J’s Staenberg Family Recreation Complex is complete and ready to open, coming in on time and on budget. The J raised just under $13.5 million to pay for the expansion and establish an endowment to maintain it.
“All costs current and future of the expansion are completely covered,” The J’s President & CEO Jim Sluyter said last week in an interview with The Chronicle.
Due to pandemic-imposed gathering regulations, a small group of major donors attended a grand-opening ceremony in the new gym on Sunday and was given a tour of the renovated and expanded facility. Other donors watched the event online and were offered the opportunity to sign up for a private tour. The facility opens to members and the community on Monday, Nov. 9. Sluyter said the 32,000-square foot expansion will provide The J with additional capacity and the ability to offer “new and exciting programming.” Large portions of the Jewish Community Campus building were renovated as well.
Highlights of the new addition and renovations include:
- Second gymnasium
- Indoor turf field
- New entrance to the recreation complex
- More visible security
- Yoga studio
- Renovated babysitting area
- J Clubhouse for kids
- Additional art studio
- Dedicated dance studios
- Additional 118 parking spots
- Extra capacity for summer campers
- Renovated Campus main entrance
- Flexible meeting spaces
- Birthday party rooms
- Outdoor pool addition
- Outdoor patio
The vast majority of the expansion, with the exception of some punch list items, will be done when it opens to members on Monday. However, Sluyter said some ongoing work will continue into January in the original sports and fitness area and through the winter and spring for the outdoor pool amenity.
For example once the new Staenberg Family Recreation Complex entrance opens, the original sports and fitness entrance will be converted to an outdoor patio. The patio will include a fire pit, outdoor TV and furniture and is adjacent to the Belzer Garden.
“What we lovingly call the coffee nook where people gather to drink coffee and to socialize in the sports and fitness area is being moved and the outdoor patio will connect to it,” Sluyter explained. “The patio is really going to be an extension of that coffee nook. When the weather is nice outside we anticipate that people will gather outdoors and enjoy the nice weather while socializing with their friends and having a cup of coffee.”
Sluyter said people are thrilled with the additional 118 new parking spaces.
“One of the biggest challenges we had with the growth of The J, prior to the pandemic, was a lack of available parking spaces and this addresses it,” Sluyter said. “Now you can drive right up to that part of the facility because there is a drop-off right in front.”
Imagine The J Capital Campaign Chair Scott Slabotsky told donors at Sunday’s event this expansion completes the entire Jewish Community Campus, which first opened to the public in 1988.
“We’re out of room. We don’t have any more land to grow on,” he said with a smile. In addition to Slabotsky, the fundraising team included Honorary Chair Howard T Jacobson and Diane Azorsky, J board member and campaign consultant, as well as volunteers and J staffers.
This is the second major expansion to the Campus building since it opened in 1988. The White Theatre wing opened in 2005. The J’s Child Development Center added classrooms and expanded its playground in the mid-to-late 1990s. Other changes, including an additional CDC expansion reconfiguring existing Campus space and creating a space for the JFS Food Pantry, have occurred over the years as well as improvements and expansion of the recreational fields on the Campus grounds.
Slabotsky, who also led the fundraising efforts for the addition of the Lewis and Shirley White Theatre wing, said as long as he is physically capable, he is committed to making sure “this facility stays in the first-class condition as you see it today.”
Participants of J programming are not the only people who will benefit from this expansion. Other tenants of the Campus will take advantage of it as well, including Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy (HBHA). For example in the past both HBHA and The J have been forced to lease off-site facilities for girls and boys basketball. Doubling the number of basketball courts allows the HBHA and J basketball teams room to practice and train mostly “at home.” The multipurpose gymnasium can accommodate basketball, futsal, pickleball and volleyball. It will also provide a space for community-wide programs and gatherings when the Campus Social Hall is booked.
On time and on budget
When The J announced the family recreation complex project in early 2019, plans called for a 27,000 square-foot expansion and a $10 million fundraising campaign. Construction and all the accoutrements that go inside including fixtures, furniture and equipment were expected to cost $8 million. The other $2 million was for an endowment of which the income will help cover the cost of ongoing maintenance and operations.
But as plans were solidified, Sluyter said The J realized its needs were greater than they originally thought, and the project grew in size and scope — and cost.
“The community just came out in droves to support this capital campaign,” he said. “I could have never imagined the amount of support we would receive.”
Sluyter said what was originally envisioned as an expansion built around a gym grew to include outdoor pool amenities and renovations to the front entrance, theater galleria, main lobby, dining room and social hall. In addition, the outdoor pool additions added $1 million to cost estimates. In other cases, Sluyter said they determined it was worthwhile and cost effective to enlarge some spaces.
It’s taken four years from the initial conversations about expansion to completion. A capital investment task force was created in 2016, which Sluyter said was charged with identifying the needs of the community.
“Our excellence draws the community, and with more members and more guests, we soon ran out of space,” he said during remarks Sunday. “And we thought if we had the ability to build anything we wanted to sustain growth and to make a deeper impact on the community, what would it be? We found our answer in the Staenberg Family Recreation Complex.”
Sluyter credits lead funder and real estate developer Michael Staenberg and Dave Roesler, a longtime J member and project manager, along with “an incredible building committee” for making sure the project ran smoothly. The J recently honored Roesler with its Otzma Award for his efforts.
Staenberg’s contributions
Throughout this process, Staenberg has committed a little more than $4 million. His first pledge was $1.8 million, which grew to $3 million, then to $4 million and “now from $4 million to potentially $5 million at some point in the future,” Sluyter said.
These are all matching grants, something Staenberg has done in other Jewish communities including Omaha, St. Louis and Denver. Sluyter explained it’s because he wants to inspire the local communities to give back.
“Michael Staenberg, our visionary lead donor, helped us imagine the space,” said Sluyter at Sunday’s festivities. “Michael, thank you for allowing us to think bigger, to think bolder, to not just be happy with good but to reach for greatness. We really appreciate it.”
Staenberg explained to donors that JCCs have played an important role in his life beginning in Omaha, where he was raised. After beginning his real estate career in Kansas City, he joined The J here and met many of his life-long friends. When that career took him to St. Louis, the JCC was one of the first places he went. During his remarks Sunday, he tipped his hat to those who originally made the Campus here a reality including many of the Campus’ founding families.
“I’m just honored to be able to carry on the legacy,” he said.
Staenberg is not done issuing challenge grants to improve facilities at The J. He plans to donate another $1 million if The J is able to raise an additional $3 million for renovations to the indoor pool. Sluyter said there is no timetable yet for any indoor pool renovations.
Staenberg has also donated much of the art adorning the new expansion, valued at more than $250,000, from his personal collection. (See accompanying story on this page.)
The pandemic’s effect on membership
Before the pandemic Sluyter said The J’s membership was at an all-time high at a little more than 3,200 units. Since the pandemic membership has declined about 20%. However, Sluyter added, “management is extremely confident that once it’s safe to do so and the pandemic is over, all those members will come back.”
“The common refrain we hear from people when they are cancelling their memberships are things like, ‘I love The J,’ ‘This is my home away from home,’ ‘I can’t come out right now so I’m going to cancel my membership but I’ll be back.’ There have been very, very few that haven’t said, ‘I’ll be back.’ ”
Sluyter said The J is encouraged by those comments.
“Twenty percent is a big number,” he said. “I am very encouraged that they will come back, it’s just that I don’t know how long this pandemic is going to go on.”
Sluyter said the expansion does allow The J the space to more easily spread out and socially distance participants.
“During this pandemic we’ve been adapting to the needs of the community now by pivoting and doing things in different ways and different programs, while at the same time preparing for the future,” Sluyter said. “We see this expansion as getting ready to address the needs post pandemic in the future, when people come back into the building. We’re extremely excited to bring that into the community because we know firsthand how many people participate in our programs and will be impacted by the new spaces we have.”
Shanny Morgenstern, chair of The J’s board of directors, is grateful for everyone’s hard work during the expansion and the pandemic, especially Sluyter’s.
“In addition to spearheading the capital campaign and overseeing the expansion, (Jim) has been in charge of running The J during one of the most challenging years ever,” she said. “Throughout this whole process, he has done an amazing job of balancing both our financial needs and our values. Jim, you are truly a mensch.”
