Adelanto | City buys old Boys and Girls Club

City buys old Boys and Girls Club

'Glasper Center' namesake draws connection between volunteerism, success
Posted Dec. 13, 2015 at 12:01 AM
Updated Dec 13, 2015 at 12:09 PM 

ADELANTO — The City Council approved buying the old Boys and Girls Club in closed session this week and will name it "The Glasper Center," a surprise for Councilman Charley Glasper who held back emotion and sought to rally the volunteerism spirit of residents.

The club facility near City Hall had been closed for some time and officials first expressed interest last month in reinventing the place as a general activity center for youth. On Wednesday, they agreed to purchase the building for $325,000 using money in the city's park fund, which Mayor Pro Tem Jermaine Wright has said contained about $1.4 million.

Since the building was purchased from a nonprofit which owed just about $200,000 on it, between $100,000 to $125,000 will be coming back to the city in a special fund. Mayor Rich Kerr said Wednesday the money as well as promised backing from sponsors will finance operations for a few years.

Glasper had been asked to leave the closed session vote and the revelation he would be the facility's namesake came in front of a packed audience who were on hand for the city's 45th anniversary celebration.

Kerr called the unanimous decision for the city's purchase "one small token of appreciation of the citizens of Adelanto."

"He gets a little feisty," Councilman Ed Camargo said about Glasper. "That's because he has that passion, that love for the city."

Meanwhile, Glasper challenged residents to volunteer in caring for the 4,857-square-foot facility, also vowing he wasn't going anywhere.

"This is my home. This is my place," he said. "I love this city."

Victorville-based real estate management firm CPI Capital had been shopping the center, located at 17537 Montezuma St., for $320,000, a below market value price, a representative said last month.

According to CPI Capital, the building comes with a kitchen, education rooms and a large patio and has room to grow. Kerr said then the would like to explore using the building as a shelter as well in times of emergency.

Adelanto officials told the Daily Press in October that the Boys and Girls Club had "closed up shop" although it was not clear when. Operations there were suspended in 2014, but the club announced in May of that year it was resuming operations after scrambling to find ways to pay off a $94,000 debt to a private lender.

The loan was taken out a few years prior in an effort to bolster operations.