New campaign to boost PAC

The Bremer Community Center Board announced plans this week to conduct a fundraising campaign to extend the vision for long-term use of the Penner Athletic Courts (PAC) by upgrading the facility.
Facing a somewhat rushed decision a year ago to purchase the PAC from the Penner family, the board pledged $1 million toward the purchase. By focusing on contributions from local foundations and large businesses, the board was able to raise approximately $900,000, and now seeks to complete the purchase as well as make some strategic investments in the facility.
Letters were sent out to business owners and community members earlier this month, announcing a campaign to close a $207,500 funding gap which includes completing the facility purchase, upgrading the gym floor for improved safety and performance, converting the upstairs space into a golf simulator and expanding year-around programming that will draw families from across Hamilton County and the region.
“The process of purchasing the PAC was kind of rushed because the Penners needed to make a decision on who was going to buy it,” said BCC board president Curran Vetter. “We didn’t quite hit our goal of $1 million, but we moved forward anyway because it was either now or never.”
Sami Vincent, director of both the Bremer Center and PAC facilities, noted that if the decision to purchase had not been made at that time, the much-used competition gymnasium, which opened in 2015, would have been converted into a distribution center by the end of last year.
“The PAC is used pretty much every night of the week,” Vetter added. “It is reserved for all ages of youth in volleyball and after school starting in November it’s completely booked. It’s also booked on Saturdays and on Sundays we have a new league starting for seventh and eighth graders, so it really is being utilized.”
Vetter said the board looked into doing some other things at the PAC, such as installing field turf on a portion of it, but the demand for court space remained a top priority.
“Court space is needed, so we’re moving forward with redoing the court and adding some sports, such as a golf simulator,” he said. “If there is anything that we can to do to kind of expand activities at the PAC, we’re going to do that.”
“We’re starting training camps and skills and drills programs for kindergarten all the way up through high school, so I mean there is going to be every age group possible,” Vincent added. “It’s mainly Aurora, but we have opened it up to Hampton and Giltner, inviting them to come over if they want to participate in those skills and drills and training camps. We have adult recreation that happens over there as well.”

Golf simulator
As for the golf simulator plans, Vetter said the board was approached by members of the Aurora High School golf team with the idea of converting an unfinished room upstairs at the PAC into a year-around practice facility.
“That space fits it really well for what they envisioned,” he said. “The school has a golf simulator, which was donated by Matt Shaw, but it was currently in the bus barn where it is apparently not being used as much because it’s not accessible. So, that all came together and was rolled into this project.”
Vetter said the golf simulator room, once completed, would be used by both the boys and girls high school golf teams, as well as members of the public who have PAC memberships.
“I think this will be a new trend to kind of have that for a training center for them in the off-season,” Vetter said. “Then it will also be used by youth golfers, as they’ll be able to buy a membership.”
Youth golfers between the ages of 8 and 16 will have to be accompanied by an adult to use the facility, which will be accessible 24/7 with a membership key code.
An ANR story published last year at about this time reported that the 22,000 sq. ft. facility was valued at $2.9 million, with the Penner family making a donation to the community by selling it to the Bremer Center Board for $1 million. Principal donors at that time included $400,000 from the Wortman Family Charitable Trust, $200,000 from the Farr Foundation, $100,000 from the Hamilton Community Foundation and $50,000 each from Hamilton Telecommunications and Keith Heuermann.
Anyone interested in making a donation is invited to contact the Bremer Center at 402-694-2035.