TACOMA, Wash. — The Portland Avenue Park Community Center is set to get a makeover, courtesy of Metro Parks Tacoma.
The community center was shut down due to an arson incident in 2021, but renovations are underway to get the center up and running again.
The Asia Pacific Cultural Center (APCC) is slated move into the community center early next year while it waits for a new cultural center to be built on South Tacoma Way.
It’s an arrangement that Public Information Officer Rosemary Ponnekanti said can be an example of how parks can help organizations bring programs and resources to communities.
“Our partnership that we have with APCC is actually a really great model of how community partnerships with Metro Parks, on the Metro Parks side, could work,” she said.
APCC Executive Director Lua Pritchard said she’s grateful to have a place to showcase her culture and looks forward to sharing it with her new neighbors as the center’s new building is constructed.
“This is something that we didn’t have to have, but we were blessed with it because they wanted to be our good partner as they have always been,” Pritchard said. “That’s why we’re here too, because of this partnership.”
Metro Parks Tacoma is also looking for feedback and ideas from people in the area about what should be included in the park. Ponnekanti said that input from community members is crucial to the park’s revitalization.
“They know what it really needs,” Ponnekanti explained. “That’s why we’re really relying on them to tell us what they would use it for. And that’s really vital that they have a say in designing what their park looks like, because they’re going to be the people using it.”
Metro Parks Tacoma hosted a public meeting Thursday evening at 6 p.m. at the Eastside Community Center. Those who couldn't make it can submit their ideas for the park at Metro Parks’ website.