Racine OKs $68M community center, construction starts in October

Racine officials have given the green light to a new $68 million community center expected to break ground in October.

The Racine Common Council on Tuesday voted 12-3 to approve bonding and a development agreement with Lincoln King Community Center Development Partners LLC, an affiliate of Pepper Construction, to build the Lincoln King Community Center.

The city wants to build a 77,835-square-foot community center and health clinic between Wilson Street and Dr. Martin Luther King Drive, a block north of Julian Thomas Elementary school. The building will have a large gymnasium, running track, climbing wall, classrooms, computer labs and other facilities for after-school programs.

“After more than four years of planning and public outreach, we are ready to build this facility that will transform neighborhoods that have endured some of the nation’s most extreme economic and racial disparities,” said Racine Mayor Cory Mason in a statement. “This project combines the community center, health center, and educational programs under one roof to become more than the sum of their parts. This will create positive improvement for the city of Racine for decades to come,” he added.

Engineering and design of the building is led by Milwaukee-based SmithGroup, which was awarded the contract in 2022. Pepper Construction is the project general contractor and Concord Group will serve as owner’s representative. To perform outreach ahead of construction, SmithGroup worked with Payne Consulting on community engagement.

The project will be larger than the existing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center with a 50% increase of space, according to city officials. The existing community center will remain open during construction and will close and move its programming over to the new center when building is complete, officials added.

Construction is expected to start in October, officials said. The project will be complete in August 2026 and the building will be occupied in the third quarter of 2026.

The project will be built with 100% union labor and is expected to rack up 319,000 construction labor hours, according to Racine officials. It will provide 160 construction jobs and 20% of the hours on the job will be performed by Racine residents through a local program.

The project will use a mix of federal, state and local funding as well as donations from private organizations.

The approval from the Common Council on Tuesday means the city can issue up to $21 million in bonds for bridge funding and allow construction to start in October. The council also approved a motion to allocate $8.1 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding to support the project.

To date, major project donors include Ascension, We Energies and the Pat Connaughton Foundation, founded by the Milwaukee Bucks player. The project has around $4 million in private donations pending and up to $20 million from state and federal partners pending.

Included in project plans are a parking canopy with photovoltaic panels, permeable pavement and geothermal systems to round out sustainable features. Dubbed Racine’s first net zero building, the project will also have rooftop solar panels, a rainwater harvesting system and a bioretention pond.

The King Center will include a federally qualified health center offering medical and mental health services affordable to all residents, including those participating in Medicaid, Racine officials said. Racine-based PillarHealth will operate the medical center.

“The health center will address Racine’s shortage of medical care providers that makes it more difficult for residents to access affordable care, and will increase mental health care availability,” said Dottie-Kay Bowersox, the city’s health administrator.