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Staff Report
City Council
Item No. 5.A
Meeting Date: February 25, 2026
From: Anne V. Ambrose, Assistant City Manager
Title: Cathedral City Community Center Feasibility Study Final Presentation by Group 4 Architecture
RECOMMENDATION:
To receive and accept the Cathedral City Community Center Feasibility Study, discuss site options based on the presentation and discuss next steps to explore financing options.
BACKGROUND:
Part of the City’s 5-Year Strategic Plan is to conduct a cost and site analysis for a future community center.
In November 2024, City voters passed Measure W, which is forecasted to generate five million dollars annually, with 40% planned for the construction and operation of the future center.
In July 2025, the City Council voted to approve Group 4 Architecture & Research (Group 4) as the consultant to conduct the community center feasibility study. Since then, City staff has been working in concert with Group 4 to conduct the study.
In October 2025, Group 4 provided an informative in-depth presentation to the City Council on the status of the study, including sites that were being evaluated and the evaluation criteria. At that meeting, the City Council added two additional sites for staff review.
In February 2026, Group 4 provided an update to the City Council to request its input and direction on preferred site and building program options (based on evaluation and analysis of the project goals/criteria matrix) and on the operational and capital cost analysis. At that meeting, the City Council narrowed down the list of potential sites and asked staff to conduct some additional analysis on the following four locations:
The “Old Burlington” site (non-City-owned)
The “Old Walmart” site (non-City-owned)
The Library site (City-owned)
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The site near the Salvation Army (City-owned)
The City Council also sought to explore additional financing options, such as lease-purchase, that could potentially allow for the development of a larger site that would not be feasible with currently available funding.
DISCUSSION:
Group 4 conducted further research into the “Old Walmart” and “Old Burlington” sites.
Working with staff, additional information was obtained about asking prices for the buildings, and interior plans that included schematics of structural beams that could impact the construction of a gymnasium. This information is outlined in the attached presentation.
Following the last City Council meeting, Cynthia Morquecho, Community Services Supervisor for the Desert Recreation District (DRD), met with Assistant City Manager Ambrose about a conversation she had with the Salvation Army about the possible use of their gymnasium for public programming. Representatives from the Salvation Army, DRD and Ms. Ambrose will be meeting to discuss the gym’s use on February 19, 2026.
Regarding potential financing options (including lease-purchase) for the construction of the new center, this was not part of the Group 4 engagement. The study’s scope was to identify the top viable site(s) for the center to be built on based off a multifactorial analysis, including amenities, location, scalability, transportation access, partnership opportunities, and a financial analysis consisting of:
Utilizing City-owned property vs purchasing non-City owned property New build vs existing building rehabilitation costs
Cost projection of operations that are based off community outreach results General funding opportunities available for site selection Scalability cost projections
The study has completed these objectives. Staff’s next steps will to bring back further options for funding strategies for the City Council to consider further refine the size and scope of the project.
FISCAL IMPACT:
None. Fiscal impact for the project will be determined as location, size, scope and financing of the project are finalized.
FIVE-YEAR STRATEGIC PLAN:
Goal B – Community Investment
Action B-10 – Conduct site and cost analysis for our Community Recreation Center.
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment 1: Cathedral City Community Center Feasibility Study Final Presentation