For those of you playing the acronym home game, it’s looking like the GCC will soon become the new home of the B&GC.
The Orion Oxford Boys & Girls Club is in the process of purchasing the community center, which would give the club its first-ever permanent home.
‘We have a purchase agreement with the Gingellville (Community Center) group to purchase their property,? said Ray Jurczyk, Senior Vice President for the Boys & Girls Club of Southeast Michigan.
‘We don’t foresee any problems here, we just have to do our due diligence,? he added.
Township Supervisor Jerry Dywasuk said he is excited about the opportunities the club’s relocation could bring.
‘Everything right now is contingent on their zoning and tax status,? he said.
The Orion Oxford Boys & Girls Club is currently housed in downtown Lake Orion, in the Ehman Center Building.
‘We’ve been leasing space and it’s good to have your own space,? Jurczyk said.
‘We’ve been looking for a permanent home for the Boys & Girls Club for the past five years,? he said of the current Orion Oxford club.
He added that the GCC building is exactly what they were looking for in a permanent home.
‘The existing building is 8,000 square feet on a parcel of land a little over six acres,? Jurczyk said, noting the property lends itself to a possible expansion in the future.
But, for the time being, Jurczyk said he and the Boys & Girls Club are focused on finalizing the sale and moving forward from there.
For Gingellville Community Center officials, the potential sale is bittersweet to say the least, as the sale of their building was forced by a long-running tax dispute with the township.
‘My membership really wanted the building and property to go to a youth-oriented organization,? said GCC Director Pam Hutchison.
She added that finding a group with a federal 501c3 tax-exempt status was an important criteria as well.
‘The Boys and Girls Club is a very worthy organization,? she said.
Though the move is one that the Boys & Girls Club is eagerly anticipating, it marks the end of an era for the long-standing GCC.
‘The membership as a whole is very sad,? she said. ‘Our organization has started the process of dissolving.?
The GCC lost its appeal at the state level, through the Michigan Tax Tribunal, earlier this year and had no options left but to sell the building to pay off its existing property taxes.
The group has been at its location on Waldon Rd. since the late 1990s, though the first meeting of the GCC took place in 1937.
‘Just because the community center is no longer here doesn’t mean that the people involved are going away,? Hutchison promised.