Ground broken Thursday on Bob, Pat Schmidt Community Center at The Grove

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

Grow Hays broke ground on the Bob and Pat Schmidt Community Center at the Grove housing development on Thursday.

The $6 million, 14,000-square-foot community center near 27th and Canterbury will house a child care center with 77 available slots, the Hays Senior Center and multi-purpose rooms for public use.

The Child Care Task Force of Ellis County helped Grow Hays apply for grants for child care in the community center.

When the child care task force was formed in 2021, Hays needed more than 700 childcare slots, according to Child Care Aware. The latest data shows the county needs 419 slots, and that does not count the 77 slots that will be created within the community center.

The Kansas Children's Cabinet and Trust Fund granted the project $3.5 million. The funds came from a tobacco settlement to the states and were designated for early childhood education by the Kansas Legislature in 1999.

The senior center will move from Old Highway 40 to the new center once it is complete.

"The seniors are here in force today, and that's awesome because this is going to be a new home to them," Doug Williams, Grow Hays executive director, said. "It's going to be a great improvement from what they have and something I think will have much better attendance and utilization. It's the home they deserve."

Sandy Jacobs, Hays city commissioner, said when she ran for office, she pledged to find a new home for the senior center, "a space that honors the generation who created this community."

"A year from now, we will not only open those doors to our seniors but to 77 kiddos who will have a new care center. Intergeneration is not just a catchphrase. It is a program that makes sure we don't lose sight of the community by learning from those who did."

Williams said HaysMed donated the land for the project and made special arrangements to purchase the rest of the property.

The Hays City Commission has agreed to issue industrial revenue bonds for the project, and the Ellis County Commission has pledged funds for the project. 

The Robert and Bob Schmidt Foundation donated funds toward the community center project, for whom the center is named.

"When you talk about you make a life by what you give, I can't think of a better example than Bob Schmidt," Williams said. "You look around and see his name on buildings, but it is way more than that.

"He is a contributor as much in death as he was in life through his foundation."

Schmidt was born in LaCrosse and lived most of his life in Hays. Schmidt was the president/CEO of Eagle Communications and eventually sold the company to its employees through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan.

"When we started looking at this community center as something that Bob and Pat would be interested in—something the other trustees and myself would be interested in supporting, it became very apparent that this would be the epicenter of what happens in our community," Gary Shorman, Schmidt Foundation president, said.

He said the community center is another special project in Hays.

"You don't have to drive very far to see the cranes, the new construction, the building and those things in the community that you don't see in any other place up and down the interstate," Shorman said. "We have something special here. ...

"This is something [Bob and Pat] would have been proud of because this is what community meant to them."

The property around the center, adjacent to HaysMed, will be developed into housing marketed to retirees.

Williams said Thursday he anticipates construction work will begin on the center in August and be completed by next summer.

The owners of Bright Minds Academy, who also operate the HaysMed child care center, will operate the child care in the new community center.

"The hard work is just now starting," Williams said. "The dollars raised is one thing. Actually executing and getting it done is another. Having gone through a couple of these, we know there are going to be challenges, but we are up to the task, and we'll make sure it happens."

Infrastructure development for the housing addition is also set to start soon. Williams said lots of homes should be available for development by next summer. Grow Hays already has had people express interest in purchasing those homes and has developed a waiting list.

For more information, you can contact Grow Hays at 785-628-3102.

Tessere is the architect of the project, and PWC is the contractor.

Editor's note: Gary Shorman is chairman of the board and chief development officer of Eagle Communications, which owns and operates the Hays Post.