Press Release
10/4/21
With the former Village Store moving over to PORA and reopening soon as the del Sol Arts and Crafts Gallery, the vacated space at R.H. Johnson has been sitting vacant since May.
That will change in the coming months as the Rec Centers looks to renovate the space to create a home for the CC&R Department, as well as a new meeting room to make up for space lost in previous space utilization reorganizations.
The CC&R staff has been working out of temporary space since opening at the Rec Centers in July 2019. Previously, PORA handled CC&R enforcement in Sun City West. When the CC&R office first opened, portable cubicles were set up in the back of the Social Hall, in space that normally houses R.H. Johnson’s facilities staff and equipment. They were then moved into the Administrative lunchroom, where they are housed now.
Plans call for the back part of the Village Store to be converted into office space for the CC&R Department and a part-time REDS employee. (REDS is the program used to look up and collect on APF fees that were unpaid due to homeowners not alerting the Rec Centers to deed changes.) The CC&R staff is comprised of one full-time employee, one part-timer and two who job-share field inspections. The full-time employee also handles collections.
The front half of the store will be turned into a multipurpose conference room that can be used by Chartered Clubs, Board functions, and staff meetings. Multipurpose space at the Rec Centers was curtailed sharply in the last two space utilization efforts that saw Palm Ridge’s Acacia Room converted into space for the Computer Club and a multipurpose room at Beardsley converted into a Yoga Studio/Karaoke Club space. The Sports Pavilion’s Multipurpose Room was converted into Lizard Acres Pub. And several years ago, the larger of the two meeting rooms at the Men’s Club was converted into the Broadcast Club’s studio.
Renovation of the former Village Store likely will take several months to complete as county permits will be required. Stay tuned to the enews for more information as the project progresses.
Better use would be as club space
The moment the news came out about the village store and taxes, I told my friends the Rec Center wants the space for themselves. That’s what this moving the village store is all about. Actually you should have put your offices in the Pora building as the Village store was a SCW selling point. Much more than visitors center location.
I agree with you. It won’t be the same having the village store way over by PORA . It should have been left there.
The Village Store should have been left in its original location. But nobody believed it was moved because of the IRS rules. We knew it would be confiscated for office space. And sure enough, it was.
I totally agree with all the comments. The rec centers could have purchased the land where new homes are being built to house expansions of offices or clubs. there is also a church for sale in sun city west with more possible space. home owners never get a say in the clubs lack of space. seems the bank account of the rec center continues to grow and the clubs can’t.
Well all the scuttlebutt was true. What a shame to lose the Village store under deceptive means.
The Village Store impressed us 20 years ago and thought it was a great tool showing what clubs we have etc etc…Why move a good thing? Seems the Rec Center bumps a lot of club spaces.
Totally agree that it is a poor decision to move the Village Store away from the club locations. In the past, visitors I have taken to the space were totally impressed with the adjacency to some of the clubs, the Sports Pavillion, and the
overlook walkway to the pool, shuffleboard, etc. It WAS a GREAT way to show off the club activity that occurs in SCW. Now we will have to make a separate trip to drive to the Village Store. The offices that are described in the press release HAVE NO RELEVANCE to most homeowners and NO RELEVANCE at all to visitors to SCW.