by: Capers Gay
On February 17th, the city of Davenport approved an expansion to the Tom Fellows Community Center. The center, opened in October 2021, is a general purpose recreation facility with amenities such as a media center, gymnasiums, a banquet hall and more. In addition, it acts as the city’s polling location for local elections.
Initial plans for the center date back to 2019. according to currently available records. Its creation was due to the city’s growth, and its current expansion is no exception as a city official stated at the February 17th commission meeting, “Other than it’s really not a whole lot of renovation, it’s more about expansion. We’ve outgrown that facility in record time, and I think that goes back to the fact that we have city staff that are promoting it, which is what we wanted them to do for the betterment of the city of Davenport. So, this is something that I think we- I know I have personally requested at a city meeting to at least look at it and I think this is where we are.”
3 firms bid for the project, but the city ultimately chose Furr, Wegman & Banks, the original architect of the center. With a development cost of $163,102, the expansion will include 50% more Banquet Hall area and storage, with the lobby and vehicle drop-off area to be moved to accommodate. True to the expansion’s intentions, this will help increase the center’s operating capacity, but strangely, no new bathrooms will be included to match this. New carpeting, HVAC unit, and interior finishes to furnish this expansion will match the original design of the center. The center, or at least the Banquet Hall, is expected to be closed for 4-5 consecutive weeks when construction begins.
During the meeting, no members of the commission or public gave any additional comment, and the expansion was quickly approved
