The Economic Development Administration is now reviewing the Department of Community and Cultural Affairs\u2019 grant application to turn the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium in Susupe into a \u201cworld -class\u201d sporting complex.<\/p>\n
According to DCCA Secretary Robert H. Hunter, a tentative yes or no will hopefully be available by next week.<\/p>\n
According to Hunter, the EDA does not usually fund sport-related proposals but because of the CNMI\u2019s \u201cunique\u201d situation where sports and culture play a huge role in economic development, it\u2019s being considered.<\/p>\n
The project will improve the Oleai Sports Complex and create a connected cultural center. The project will include a swimming pool, tennis courts, concession stands, and a pedestrian bridge that goes across the Oleai Sports Complex to the beach where the cultural center will be built to have permanent booths, canoe house, beach volleyball courts, and a performing arts area.<\/p>\n
Concession stands will also be placed around the area and the existing grandstand at the track and field facility will be extended to accommodate more people.<\/p>\n
According to Hunter, when DCCA first managed the gym, the facilities weren\u2019t well-maintained because their budget was only $400,000 a year and that wasn\u2019t enough to keep the facility clean and functional. <\/p>\n
If the grant application with EDA is approved, then the facility will need at least $700,000 or more a year to be well-maintained; otherwise it will be in the condition it has always been in.<\/p>\n
With or without the EDA grant, the DCCA still plans to refurbish the Ada Gym and create a cultural center at the Civic Center across.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Economic Development Administration is now reviewing the Department of Community and Cultural Affairs\u2019 grant…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[34,10251],"class_list":["post-316714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","tag-dcca","tag-eda"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=316714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316714\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=316714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=316714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}