Andrew Kaplan, board chair of the Jewish Community Center (The J), opened last week’s groundbreaking ceremony by thanking the invited guests for “investing in the next phase of our future.” He was talking about the fundraising campaign for the Staenberg Family Recreation Complex, which so far has raised “more than $11 million to bring our dreams to reality.”
Actual construction of the expansion is expected to begin in a month or so. The J projects the additions will be ready for use in about a year, and the facility will remain open during that time. Construction of the 32,000 square-foot expansion is expected to cost $9.5 million. An additional $2 million is being raised for an endowment to fund annual operations and maintenance.
President and CEO Jim Sluyter told the crowd the expansion was necessary because with membership at or near capacity, “we are literally bursting at the seams.” The expansion will be located on the west side of the Jewish Community Campus and will include a new entrance to The J’s Fitness and Sports facilities, a new gymnasium, an indoor turf field, an additional art room, renovated Fitness Zone and babysitting area, dedicated dance studios and a yoga studio. He thanked “fundraisers extraordinaire” Scott Slabotsky and Howard T Jacobson for leading the charge for the successful campaign.
Sluyter also thanked Michael Staenberg for his “generosity and vision to what Jewish communal life can look like here in Kansas City.”
Slabotsky, who was involved when The J sold its building on Holmes, moved into the Jewish Community Campus in 1988 and led fundraising efforts for the White Theatre wing, which opened in 2005, said he hoped this expansion takes The J through the next 30 years. In his remarks, he thanked his “mentors and community pillars not here today” for what they did to “allow us to continue to move forward.”
Staenberg, the lead funder whose name graces the new addition, mentioned that while he was growing up in Omaha, that community’s J was like his second home. To him, The J is “the center of attention,” and when “the JCC is strong, it makes the Jewish community stronger.”
Staenberg began his real estate career in Kansas City and now calls St. Louis his home. For more than a decade, he and the Staenberg Family Foundation have contributed over $100 million to nonprofit organizations, as well as in-kind resources that are also valued at more than $100 million. Jewish community centers in St. Louis, Denver and Omaha are among those that have benefited from Staenberg’s generosity.