Vying For Space
Sports, veterans, Zionists and a library all want room
at a renovated Jewish Community Center.
kat
11.00ENSitaitt*MAR12.01,A0,
LONNY GOLDSMITH
Staff 1,0-i ter
d,*
ish tOk
M.
W
ith renovation
plans being drawn
up for the Jewish
Community
Center, four area organizations
are jockeying for space in the
Kahn building in West
Bloomfield.
JCC Executive Director David
Sorkin says they shouldn't hold
their breath because the coveted
space may be far less than the
interested parties would need.
"Once we've taken care of the
needs of the JCC and the current
tenants, there are only a few thou-
Display space at the Jewish War Veterans building.
sand square feet left over," Sorkin
"I haven't come to that point yet,"
said. "We know we don't have the
"I'd like for us to put together a
said
Weingarden. "I don't know exact-
quality exhibition space."
plan," he said. "Our biggest issue is
ly
what
the JCC will want from us,
Both locations of the JCC (includ-
the ability to raise money'."
but we have some deep-pocketed peo-
ing the Jimmy Prentis Morris building
Mel Weingarden, chairman of the
ple who are interested in this."
in Oak Park) will get a major facelift
relocation committee for the
Weingarden, who is spending the
as part of the current $25 million cap-
Department of Michigan Jewish War
winter in his home in Sarasota, Fla.,
ital and endowment campaign. The
Veterans, says no way would he settle
will speak again to the JCC when he
Michigan Jewish Sports Hall of Fame,
for a corridor. The group needs a
returns to Michigan in April.
Jewish War Veterans, the Zionist
d.
memorial room at the JCC, he insiste
"Truthfully, I feel the Jewish com-
Organization of America and the
"We don't want to be stuck in the
munity owes this room to the Jewish
Midrasha Library all have expressed
hallway like the Hall of Fame," he said
war veterans," Weingarden said. "The
interest in being part of the renovated
The veterans group has a house on I 2
Jewish commu-
West Bloomfield JCC.
Mile Road in
nity should be
The sports unit already uses corridor
Southfield for its
rallying behind
space leading from the main lobby
exhibit of pic-
this.
toward the health club to display
tures of Jewish
Jerome S.
plaques of hall inductees. Steve Simons,
soldiers killed in
Kaufman, presi-
the executive director of the Michigan
the line of duty
dent of the
Jewish Sports Foundation, says that the
and its memori-
Zionist
Hall of Fame needs more than a hallway.
al book with a
Organization of
"Do we want a prime position in
page dedicated
America,
the JCC? Yes," he said. "We like to
to each soldier.
Michigan
think that we are like the Baseball
Weingarden
Region, said his
Hall of Fame or the Rock and Roll
says he hasn't
group would
Hall of Fame."
given any
like to rent
Simons is hoping to get a meeting
thought to the
office
space at
with the JCC leadership after the first
possibility that
the
JCC.
of the year.
his attempt to
"We're look-
get a room at
Lonny Goldsmith can be reached at
inductees of the Michigan ing for under
the JCC will
The
plaques
honorin
(248) 354-6060, ext. 263, or by e-mail
1,000 square
Jewish Sports Hall o Fame at the Kahn . JCC.
fail.
•
"
at lgoldsmith@thejewishnews.com
12/18
1998
12 Detroit Jewish News
feet, and then [to; have the
advantage of using the meeting
rooms and auditorium," he
said.
Even knowing that it's pre-
mature to schedule a meeting
with the JCC's Sorkin,
Kaufman is not optimistic
about getting the space.
"It sounds like the expansion
is for the JCC, not their ten-
ants," he said. "It's their money
and their community center, and
I'd expect they'd do what's in
their best interest."
The Agency for Jewish
Education has been in discussion
with the center for several
months, longer than any other
organization. The AJE may want
to move its Midrasha Library
from its 12 Mile Road location in
Southfield to the JCC.
"The decision as to where the best
place to move it is, hasn't been decid-
ed yet," said Judah Isaacs, the agency's
interim executive director. "It's a very
scholarly library and the question is:
where is the best place for scholars to
access it."
Isaacs said that from the board of
directors' perspective, nothing has
been decided about the library going
anywhere: "We're still struggling with
what's the right venue."
Unfortunately for the interested
parties, the only expansion certain to
happen is the gymnasium, which is
dedicated to a specific purpose. "It's a
redeployment of space," Sorkin said.
According to Howard Neistein,
the director of planning for the
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan
Detroit, expansion will depend on
the money raised.
"It's probably unlikely that they will
exceed their goal," Neistein said.
"They're doing the best they can to
accommodate as many needs as possi-
ble and how the space can be best
used." 7