Sedalia Park Board Tours ‘Memory Lanes’ Construction Site

The Sedalia Park Board toured the new Memory Lanes facility, currently under construction at 601 East Broadway, on Thursday.

The Board was joined by Parks & Rec Director Amy Epple, John Simmons, assistant director of parks; and Courtney Fry, assistant director of recreation; as well as Sedalia Mayor Traves Williams and one Council member, Third Ward Councilman David Covington.

The entire group was accompanied by a Nabholz Construction Corporation official.

All persons taking the tour were required to wear hard hats.

Prior to the tour, Park Board approved a contract to have the next 32-page program guide printed by Publications Plus, Inc., at a cost of $11,706, which was the lowest of three bids.

The other two bids were from 510 Printing ($12,695.50) and ECA Direct ($21,764.50).

The winning bid includes the cost of printing and postage, it was noted.

The 16-lane bowling alley is expected to officially open in November, with Parks & Rec conducting staff training for about a month before that.

Ground was broken October 8 for the facility. Sue Heckart provided $6 million for the construction of the bowling alley, which will also contain an E-sports center and a restaurant.

The building is situated north of the overpass on East 50, and between Smith-Cotton Junior High and the still-under-construction Boys & Girls Club teen center on East 3rd Street, across the street from Katy Depot.

Fry noted that E-sports tournaments are expected to be scheduled every other weekend, with open play on the other weekends for rentals.

She also noted that rules will dictate that kids can be there after school without an adult to accompany them, but they must be actively involved in an activity, whether it be bowling or E-sports, not just loitering.

Simmons added that after 5:30 p.m., those under 13 will need to be accompanied by an adult, or they will have to leave the facility and not just hang out. And that is very similar to the rules at the Heckart Community Center, he said.

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“You know, it’s such a unique opportunity, we want to take advantage of it, but I just kind of had PTSD from the first six weeks of the Heckart, when it was kind of mass chaos, I’m not gonna lie to you all, so we’re trying to get ahead of that, and just figure out something that’s going to work for everybody, and not discount an age group that we want here. They need to be here. It’s a safe, controlled environment. But we also need to be respectful of rules,” Fry stated.

Simmons added “that gatekeeper behind that counter’s going to be important.”

Having studied the blueprints extensively, Simmons gave details of the kitchen under construction, noting that a kitchen manager has yet to be hired. There will be a flat grill, a fryer, a pizza oven, fountain drinks, prep table, sinks, dishwasher, upright freezer, walk-in refrigerator.

The restaurant will serve traditional snack-bar-type food, “a little elevated where we can,” Simmons said, “but that will be up to our kitchen manager ... we think we know what the basic menu is, but we’ll be building that menu over the summer … we’re counting on people being experts that we’re hiring to know what they’re doing.”

Simmons noted that there will be no outdoor seating or patio outside the restaurant. “But, it doesn’t mean we can’t adjust things later,” he said, in response to a question from Park Board member Jeff Wimann.

The front entrance to Memory Lanes will be on the east side of the building. “There is no outdoor access from the bowling alley to the pool area. You would have to go out the front door and enter the pool area over there,” Simmons said.

He added that “we also want to catch people on the Katy Trail who are coming through town, so we’ll have bike racks eventually, and they can order from this window (on the south side), also. Or they can come in.”

There will be 172 asphalt parking spots available at the facility, plus six handicapped spots once construction is complete.

Incidentally, the new Teen Center on East Third was originally going to open in June. Now that date has been pushed back to February, Epple noted.

Fry referred to the new area as a “campus” that includes a bowling alley, E-sports Center, a restaurant and a new Sedalia Fire Station and fire training facility. (The old Central Fire Station next door will be demolished once the new one is in service, according to Epple.

And of course two fast food businesses have sprung up in the same general area on East Broadway well before the bowling alley will be up & running, include Taco Bell and McDonald’s.

This is Taco Bell’s second restaurant in Sedalia and the third for McDonald’s. Their presence helps to somewhat alleviate the closure of the last remaining Hardee’s in Sedalia several months ago in the 700 block of East Broadway.