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Vista del Camino nearly completed
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CENTER PLAN DISCUSSION: Judy Weiss, left, Scottsdale parks and recreation director, talks last week to residents about plans to update the 1972 Master Plan for Vista del Camino Community Center.
Jennifer Grimes, Tribune
After more than a year of work has been completed on Scottsdale’s Vista del Camino Community Center, crews are finally ready to slap paint on the walls.
On Tuesday, the City Council voted to allocate $12,000 to buy three computers and other communications equipment for the social services facility, which is expected to reopen early next year.
One of the main missions of Vista del Camino, at 7700 E. Roosevelt St., is helping people on the verge of becoming homeless, said Connie James, the city’s human services director.
Because of the building’s age, work began in August 2006 on a $3 million renovation and slight expansion.
“After 32 years, we decided to do a total remodel,” James said. “The inside of the building was pretty much gutted out.”
The building saw a couple of additions over those 32 years, but James characterized them as inefficient compared with the final product of the $3 million remodeling work.
Kathy Breen, a senior recreation coordinator, said work has progressed significantly.
“We are currently doing the painting on the interior of the building and we’re hoping to open some time after the first of the year,” Breen said.
Vista del Camino provides such services as a food and clothing bank, a job preparation center, after school recreation and tutoring programs for children and teens, help with rent and utilities, and services for seniors, James said.
Those services have been operating out of temporary offices in a city-owned building, the former downtown Senior Center at 7325 E. Second St., since July 2006, she said. But the remodeled Vista del Camino could reopen as soon as February, she said.
Crews had to put a new roof on the building as well as remove hazardous asbestos, James said. But the newly remodeled building will feature expanded storage and office space. James added that the facility will now be more accessible for the disabled.
The building’s size increased slightly, by 2,500 square feet, because a courtyard was enclosed.
“We can’t expand the facility more than the footprint it is because of Indian Bend Wash,” James said.
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