Q&A: The Grove Aquatic and Fitness Center Celebrates 10 Years

In 2001, the 55,000-square foot Grove Aquatic and Fitness Center opened its doors in Inver Grove Heights.

Since then, city officials say, the $7.5 million facility has been a valuable commodity for local families. This week, The Grove is celebrating its 10th anniversary. Patch spoke with City Parks and Recreation Director Eric Carlson about the building, its impact on the community and what the future may hold for the center.

Patch: What can you tell me about the planning and construction of The Grove? When did the city begin considering the project, and what organizations were instrumental to the creation of the facility?

Eric Carlson: The community was looking at its recreational needs and members of the City Council and Parks and Recreation Commission and some other members of the community started discussing the concept of an aquatic and fitness center. In part, because they saw a need for additional space for meetings and a place for people to gather, but also because a swimming pool in the community that was located in the middle school at the time was starting to fail and needed major repairs.

There was conversation between the city and the school district about how best to replace that amentity in the community and from all of that sprung the idea for an aquatics and fitness center. At the time, in the metro area, there were a number of communities that had already successfully built or were strongly considering building similar facilities, including Maplewood, Chaska and Shoreview. It was a popular project among communities around that time.

At least once, the city put the question up to voters in the form of a referendum. the referendum failed, but the city in partenership with the school district felt that such a facility was something the community could benefit from and ultimately financed it through partnerships with the school district, other users and Tax Increment Financing.

Patch: Why did Inver Grove Heights originally need a facility like the aquatic and fitness center? Why did the city feel, ten years ago, that it was important to have something like this in the area?

Carlson: At the time, there were a lot of young families in the community, and they were seeing what other communities had for recreational resources. People felt like Inver Grove Heights didn't have some of those. The pool was failing, so they wanted to create a facility that would provide for additional recreational resources, provide the aquatic aspect for the community and provide a place where all ages could come, gather and work on their health and wellness.

Patch: How much has the membership and programming of The Grove grown over its decade-long life-span?

Carlson: The facility came under fire in the commuity in the mid-2000s. There was an operational audit of the facility done. There were some people concerned with what was happening in the building, what programs were being offered or weren't being offered. The city was subsidizing the operational expenses of the building to the tune of several hundred thousand dollars. Some people called into question what was going on and why it was losing money. There was about a year-and-a-half process to do some fact-checking and do some educating of people to get everyone on the same page of what the building is and what the building wasn't.

We've been able to use the results of the audit to improve the image of the facility, to improve the program offerings of the facility, we have seen membership grow steadily in the last three to four years. We have about 3,500 members. We've definitely changed some of the things that happened in the building. We've just taken a closer look at the overall operation and tried to balance the business of the operation with the needs of the public to try to make it as successful as possible, both in the eyes of the people using the building and from a financial perspective. We're recovering somewhere between 83 and 86 percent of our expenses through our operating revenue.

Everytime we make a decision what to charge and what to spend, we weigh that in our calculations. At one point there were members of the City Council who, during the audit, wanted to see the building bulldozed. But in my time here, I'd say the council — and it's the same council — has been supportive of the operation. The building wasn't built to make money. The building was built to provide amenities to the public and for non-profit groups.

Patch: What impact has the aquatic and fitness center had on Inver Grove Heights since it was built?

Carlson: Businesses benefit from this facility. Business owners know when there's something going on here — a big event going on here — because they'll get hockey teams coming to shop, whether it's bowling at Drkulas, grabbing lunch at McDonalds or filling up at a local gas station. It's helping business' bottom line, so they can stay in business.

I think it has a huge impact on the community; it provides a place for all ages to get together and recreate. There's something for everybody here. If you choose to participate in what the facility has to offer, you have an opportunity to improve your health and your wellness, you have an opportunity to keep your health care costs down, you have an opportunity to meet people and you have an opportunity to come and watch your kids participate in a sport or activity. I think this facility gives the community the opportunity to experience life to its fullest, and that's really what parks and recreation does.

Patch: What does the future hold for The Grove, in terms of new programming, initiatives and other developments?

Carlson: One thing that we recognize is that we need to keep the facility current. What happened and what was popular five years ago may not be what's happening today, tomorrow or five years from now.

I think we see growth in the senior population, and i don't think that's just Inver Grove Heights, I think that's nationwide. That baby-boomer group is going to be prevalent and they're expecting things from service providers in terms of health and wellness. Seniors have different needs and different interests and different ways to access the building than other demographics do. Seniors don't want to come and play cards any more, they're active.

We've seen a decline in the amount of kids participating in youth hockey in Inver Grove Heights, and I think that's in some degree related to the economy, because hockey's not an inexpensive sport to play. I also think the demographics of the community are changing and some of the newcomers to the community aren't coming from your traditional hockey background. I see a day in the not-too-distant future that instead of having two sheets of ice, we only have one and that second space is converted into some other use we see a demand for. I see it turning into an indoor turf facility.