As a fundraiser for the Odessa College Downtown Community Center, the college is offering a chance to purchase a walkway brick or a bench plaque.
The Downtown Community Center will be at the corner of Fourth Street and north Jackson Avenue where the Odessa American used to be.
The pavers will be placed along Jackson Avenue right now, the deadline is Dec. 15, Vice President of Advancement Jacqui Gore said.
“Those that we sell by Dec. 15 will be unveiled at the grand opening in late spring of ‘23,” Gore said. “We’ll still have other opportunities for the community to purchase bricks. If someone purchases a brick after Dec. 15, those would be installed at a later date.”
Gore said they will continue to raise money for this project and there will be ongoing fundraising opportunities for it.
“Pavers are a very common fundraising opportunity for projects such as this and it gives community members an opportunity to leave a legacy, either honoring someone they love or leaving a memory of someone that they love,” Gore said.
“Downtown Odessa is important to generations here in Odessa. We want to give our community an opportunity to leave their families’ name, or to honor or memorialize their family and friends. We have other naming opportunities as well in this area. The pavers in particular will give more individuals, or companies for that matter, an opportunity to participate,” she added.
There will be 10 benches placed around the perimeter of the green space. That’s another way for community members, companies, or organizations to leave their legacy in the downtown area, Gore said.
They are working on Phase I of the downtown project now.
A two-story, 30,000-square-foot academic building is planned for Phase II.
The total project cost, including Phase I and Phase II, which is the academic building, is $16.5 million, she said.
They have raised $3.1 million for Phase I.
“The pavers … will add to the total dollars raised as we prepare for Phase II, which is the academic building. The architects are still working on the artist’s renderings for the academic building. Once they get that complete, that will give me more detail to take out to the community and talk about the opportunities. We’ll have conference rooms, classrooms. We’ll have an area for entrepreneurs to utilize to start up their new businesses. We’ll offer business courses, continuing education courses so we’ll have multiple naming opportunities within the academic building,” Gore said.
She added that there will be a naming opportunity for the entire plaza.
“We have naming opportunities for each of the individual pieces, the green space, the stage area, the splash pad, the amphitheater, (the) pavilions, and then the building. It’s possible that we could have a donor who would want to name the whole thing, so we have all of it on the table as we’re talking to interested donors who want to participate,” Gore said.
She added that the community response has been positive.
“It has a lot to do with the nostalgia of downtown and wanting to see the revitalization, so the donors that we have spoken with are really excited about new businesses coming in downtown. The atmosphere that is being created and different ones have been really interested in the aspect of launching up-and-coming entrepreneurs and having the conference room space. Some have been really keen on the business aspect and others have been really keen on more of the activities in the social and entertainment component that we’ll have,” Gore said.
There will be a lot of fun, family-centered activities in the outdoor space.
“But we will also offer classes — exercise classes, music, art. We will have live entertainment throughout the week. We want this to be an area where the downtown community could come and grab lunch at one of the food vendors and enjoy their time in a nice space,” she added.
Yoga classes could also be a possibility, as well as other activities for the daytime and evening crowds.
“We are working with Odessa Arts on hosting some of their existing events, as well as Downtown Odessa, working with them to see what events they would like to host in the Odessa College (Downtown Community Center). One we’ve already talked with downtown Odessa about is some components of Firecracker Fandango because it runs along Fourth Street, so it will make sense for the Odessa College Downtown area to maybe have one of the concerts on the stage; the children’s area. … Some of the events could be held in this space. We’re still working out those details. But the great thing is this space will be ready in time for us to host some of those existing summer activities that take place downtown,” Gore said.
“It’s important to all of the organizations involved that we work together. Those are some of the conversations we’re already having. We want to make sure that we all collaborate, which will help with just the staffing, the planning, the cost, the venues. It’s really going to be a fantastic collaboration between the City of Odessa, Downtown Odessa, Odessa Arts and Odessa College, along with those downtown businesses. Many of them are hosting special events, so it’s exciting to see what we’re going to come up with,” she added.
Food vendors also are part of the plans, but those details still have to be worked out.
People will be able to rent space within the academic building, as well as the green space.
“We will make this area available for special events, working nonprofits and companies, individuals who want to have events here in this space, as well as in the academic building when it is opened,” Gore said.
To contribute, visit tinyurl.com/5ab49yv5, call Gore at 432-335-6815 or email [email protected]
