ICC’s New Building Ready for Dedication

The Idyllwild Community Center (ICC) new community center building project next to the Idyllwild Community Playground, which has been in the works for more than twenty years, has finally been completed. The public dedication ceremony is Friday, June 20th, at 11:30 am. Everyone is welcome!

The dedication ceremony will be attended by Riverside County District 3 Supervisor Chuck Washington and Riverside County District 4 Supervisor V. Manuel Perez. Prior to January 1, 2024, our mountain communities were part of District 3, although we are now part of District 4.

Supervisor Washington provided significant financial support for this project over the course of many years, and recently Supervisor Perez provided additional funding as well. Needless to say, on behalf of the residents and visitors to our mountain communities, ICC is very grateful to both Supervisors for their strong support of this project.

As a reminder, the original building plans from years ago called for a much larger two-story building that would have cost many more millions of dollars than ICC had access to. In 2020, in coordination with Riverside County and HUD, ICC scaled back its building plans to something more readily achievable, and importantly, more financially sustainable by a small mountain community like ours.

The current building was designed by local architect Erik Marcussen of Ground Floor Design.

A portion of the initial community funds raised prior to 2020 were used to pay for the new architecture plans, required building permits and environmental studies, fencing surrounding the Butterfield Amphitheater, an additional ten rows of Amphitheater seating, the Amphitheater’s mixing platform, and completion of its backstage area.

Unfortunately, due to COVID slowdowns at the county Planning Department to review and approve the new building plans, the current construction project was unable to commence for another two years.

ICC finally broke ground on this project in August 2022. Work on the project was then significantly delayed throughout the “snowmaggeden” winter of 2022-2023, and the monthly rains Idyllwild experienced in much of 2023 until April 2024.

And of course, over that time frame, building and labor costs have gone up…and up…and up.

With the recent addition of County funds, as well as additional significant private donations and private loans, ICC has been able to complete the building’s interior and outside deck very quickly. Local general contractor Shane Stewart was willing and able to immediately complete the project; his contract included a donated 5% discount on all project expenses and labor.

Although the building itself is completed, ICC remains focused on raising the final funds to complete the project, which includes purchasing indoor and outdoor tables and chairs, kitchen equipment, cleaning and maintenance equipment, etc. Donations in any amount can be made via ICC’s website (www.idyllwildcommunitycenter.org) by clicking on the Donations link at the top right of the website’s homepage.

The new building includes a great room, commercial kitchen, indoor restroom, ticket office, business office, storage, and outdoor decking overlooking the Butterfield Amphitheater. Additionally, the building provides exterior accessible restrooms for use by Idyllwild Community Playground users, thereby eliminating the need for the current porta-potties.

The new building offers a large meeting room/great room, a commercial kitchen for indoor and outdoor dining opportunities, a ticket office for amphitheater events, a spacious new deck overlooking the amphitheater, and permanent outdoor accessible restrooms for the playground and amphitheater (that will be locked every night).

The new community center building will be used for some of ICC’s regularly scheduled recreation programs, in addition to being available as a public meeting space and rentable for private events. ICC is also looking into possible food service options during Amphitheater concerts and events.

Currently, all of ICC’s year-round programs are based at the Idyllwild Town Hall, which is inadequate for the many programs, services, and events needed to support our residents and visitors. The new building will provide a much-needed additional space to complement and enhance ICC’s services to the mountain communities for many years to come.