Organizers’ plans for a Latino Community Center on Des Moines’ east side are coming into focus, with a partnership under discussion with Grand View University. 

By early next summer, the nonprofit Latino Community Center Inc. hopes to announce definitive plans for a project to remodel a former bowling alley owned by Grand View into a 31,000-square-foot community center. About one-third of the building, the Viking Events Center at 3839 E. 14th St., is already used by Grand View as a practice facility for its wrestling team. 

“The idea was that we would be a strong partner (with Grand View) in offering programs such as language, technical training and youth programs,” said Alejandro Orozco, a vice president and community development officer with Bankers Trust Co. who chairs the Latino Community Center’s board of directors. “Grand View President Kent Henning has a vision for how this could be a long-term relationship; we were very interested in his vision.” 

The community center project, which was initially recommended through the Capital Crossroads long-range vision plan process, seeks to re-establish a permanent home for Latino cultural programs and educational activities in Greater Des Moines. The Latino community has been without a permanent center since the HOLA Center closed in 2011 because of lack of funding. 

The nonprofit commissioned RDG Planning and Design in 2013 to conduct a feasibility study for the project, which would involve renovating the bowling alley space into a community center anchored by a 14,000-square-foot events center. The community center would also incorporate a lobby space and kitchen, along with meeting and activity rooms, offices for staff and an outdoor patio space.  

According to State Data Center figures cited in that study, the Des Moines/West Des Moines Metropolitan Area is currently home to 25 percent of the state’s Latino population, and at the projected growth rate for the state, the Latino population for the metro would increase from 38,004 in 2010 to 107,586 in 2040. 

Both the remodeling and the lease arrangements are still under discussion. The three-phase project would involve first tearing out the bowling alley equipment to ready the building for renovation, followed by construction of the events center as a second phase and then the remainder of the community center facilities in the third phase. 

“We definitely want to centralize services for the Latino community there,” Orozco said. In addition to offering existing support programs, the community center would also provide some new services that aren’t currently offered, among them an entrepreneurship and business development program, as well as youth programs and cultural and arts activities, he said. The center is also looking into developing Latino culinary programs with Grand View. 

“Cultural activities are one of the main things that started this conversation,” Orozco said. “Our culture and heritage should be showcased and preserved. That’s going to be a huge part of this center. That will also help to bridge the Latino community with the non-Latino community.” 

Jay Prescott, Grand View’s vice president for student affairs, said university officials have discussed various certificate programs that could be offered at the center, among them small business and language proficiency classes. Grand View has also discussed hosting some preliminary programs on campus until renovations to the building are completed, he said. 

“Alex Piedras, our director of multicultural and community outreach, has done a lot of cultural outreach activities in the city,” Prescott said. “We just look at it as a way to enhance those community connections.” 

The Latino Center has raised about $60,000, which has gone toward planning and consulting fees for the project, which has an estimated price tag between $1.2 million and $1.7 million, Orozco said. His board expects to launch a fundraising campaign once renovation and programming details are finalized with Grand View. 

“We would hope that corporations would step up to the plate and help with much of that money,” Orozco said. “But first we want to have all the pieces in place so they can understand where we’re going and that we’re serious.”