Noblesville Schools Associate Supt. Dave Mundy said that when the district scouted the area for a community center it could model its vision on, it couldn’t find one.
So, the district formed a team of 20 people to create its own concept and plan a new building.
Three years later, the concept is now reality. The new Noblesville Schools Community Center opened late February.
“We think it’s very unique,” Mundy said. “We looked around trying to find something to model this after and weren’t successful. We wanted it to be used as much as possible, and so we put together a facility that will be used very frequently. It’s not something we want to build and have sitting around. Everything in that building has multiple uses.”
Besides offering space for the community to reserve, the new community center also will house Millers Success Academy and the Limitless program.
Millers Success Academy is Noblesville High School’s new alternative education program, designed to provide an engaging learning environment with individualized instruction and support for students who need an alternative to the traditional classroom. It is geared to help all learners earn an NHS diploma and keep young adults in Noblesville as productive, compassionate members of the community.
The Limitless program is an initiative of the Hamilton Boone Madison County Co-op to provide ongoing education to young adults with special needs.
The community center has a kitchen and a 7,500-square-foot multi-use space. There are several offices for the program directors of Limitless and Millers Success Academy. The entire building is 15,000 square feet and also includes two classrooms.
“The community center is something we noticed a couple years ago that Noblesville is missing,” Mundy said. “We constantly have people calling us and wanting to use different facilities for different meetings, especially bigger meetings. We thought this would be a great opportunity to provide items needed for the school and help the community to get a building put together to be used by the community.”
Each year, the community schedules 14,000 hours of programming in the district’s facilities.
The space also will serve the district and some of its growing athletics programs, such as dance and cheerleading.
Mundy said the space could be used as a practice facility when not being used by the community or for the other programs.
“Our dance program has grown exponentially the last couple years and is really succeeding, so it’s a nice place for them to practice,” Mundy said.
The building has a maximum capacity of 500 people and also allows for tables and chairs to be set up to accommodate dinners or receptions.
The project’s $6 million price won’t raise the local tax rate.
“Due to the fact we have been as fiscally prudent as possible, we were able to get a bond and all the financing was done through that, and it had zero impact on our tax rate,” Mundy said.
To reserve a time to use the community center, visit noblesvilleschools.org/domain/55.
Planning the space
Noblesville Schools Associate Supt. Dave Mundy said every piece of the new community center was constructed for a purpose, including the strategically placed parking lot with 125 new parking spaces.
“The parking at the community center can be used as additional parking for the new stadium (opening in 2022),” Mundy said. “We also designed that parking lot to assist in staging for our buses in high school pick-up and drop-off. We made specific designs with that in mind.”
The community center is on Field Drive between Noblesville High School and Noblesville East Middle School. A pathway from the center leads directly to the district’s new stadium.
