FREMONT — With only one public gymnasium in a city of more than 200,000 people, Fremont is considering converting an old auto dealership into a new recreation center.

The City Council has approved up to $139,000 for a consultant to study the cost of renovating the city-owned building as a gym versus tearing it down and building a new facility from scratch.

Fremont bought 3.6 acres of land, including the building, at the southeast corner of Dusterberry Way and Peralta Avenue in 1999 to build a community park.

Originally the plan was to demolish the building and make the entire parcel an outdoor park, Parks and Recreation Director Annabell Holland said. However the need has surged for indoor recreation space for city programs and classes in recent years, she said.

"We are at capacity at prime time for everything that we are doing," Holland told the council last week.

The city's lone gymnasium is inside the Wally Pond Irvington Community Center at 41885 Blacow Road. It has one full-length basketball court, a volleyball court and six badminton courts. Other than that, Fremont has an agreement to hold programs at Horner Junior High School's gym, Holland said.

A new 32,000-square-foot recreation center at the park site would include a gymnasium and classrooms that could house dance programs, a gymnastics program and a teen drop-in center. The indoor facility would be adjacent to a planned outdoor park on the same site.

Fremont

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has $3.8 million available for the project — enough to build a standard outdoor community park, but not enough to renovate the building into a gym or build a new gym, said Amy Rakley, Fremont's park planning manager.

The outdoor park has not yet been built, she added, because the city doesn't have money to hire enough maintenance workers to maintain new parks.

The council voted unanimously to approve the study by consultant Noll & Tam Architects and Planners, although Councilmember Steve Cho voiced concern about whether the city could pay to build the gym.

"If it's doable, that is something I can support," he said.

Fremont leases part of the building to a used-car dealer, while the Tri-City Volunteers are scheduled to temporarily lease a portion of it later this year. The consultant's report is due for completion around September, Rakley said.

Should the council move forward with just the outdoor park, it would be scheduled for completion by next year, she added. A combined park and recreation center would likely take longer to finance and build.

Staff writer Matthew Artz covers Fremont. He can be reached at 510-353-7002 or martz@bayareanewsgroup.com. For more local news, visit www.ibabuzz.tricitybeat.com.