City selling former rec center

Leaders of the local Ahiska Turkish community are purchasing another former city of Dayton recreation center — the Stuart Patterson Center in Old North Dayton — and will use it to house Head Start education programs open to the public.

The 17,000-square-foot building at 238 Baltimore St., which has been closed since early 2010, is being purchased by IMTA Consulting Group for $90,000, according to city officials.

Islom Shakhbandarov, owner of IMTA and CEO of the Ahiska Turkish American Community Center, said Friday that renovations are under way, and he is aiming for an Aug. 24 grand opening. He said a lease agreement is already in place with Miami Valley Child Development Centers.

“I bought this building because it was abandoned and was in bad shape and it wasn’t serving the community,” Shakhbandarov said. “We have a growing Turkish community (nearby) but an existing community also. … Since nobody was investing, I took a risk and invested the money.”

The local Ahiska Turkish community has grown to more than 400 families in the past few years and has a purchase agreement on the city’s former Bomberger Center on East Fifth Street, where they’ve established a community center.

Shakhbandarov said MVCDC will be able to serve just over 100 children at the Stuart Patterson site, adding that the entire center will be devoted to the Head Start program. There has been a push throughout the Dayton area to do more early-childhood education through the Learn to Earn program.

“We know education is a major issue, so we want to do as much as we could,” Shakhbandarov said. “It will bring a significant change to the community.”

City officials said the park adjacent to the center will continue to be owned and operated by the city, but added that “it is anticipated that the city will demolish the unusable swimming pool located in the park.”

In recent years, the city closed multiple recreation centers while opening the new Greater Dayton Recreation Center and renovating the Lohrey Center and Northwest Rec Center.

The Patterson Center is one of 14 unused properties of several types the city authorized for sale Aug. 3, 2011. Other than the Patterson and Bomberger centers, only the Ellison Senior Citizen Center on West Third Street has a purchase agreement, with Living Word Church. City officials say they are leasing five others to short- and long-term tenants.

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