"Funds roll in for center's expansion. The county pledges $100,000 to help build a bigger island facility." ...BY SELINA ROMÁN

ANNA MARIA -- Soccer players change their shirts in the lobby. Four people share a cramped office. Other staff have offices in closets. The crowded Anna Maria Island Community Center is ready to get a bigger, safer facility for the thousands of children and adults that use it every year. To make the 11,000-square-foot expansion happen, the center needs to raise $1 million. The county commissioners helped the effort Tuesday with a pledge of $100,000. Scott Dell, the center's executive director, said he's excited to see things start rolling. "It's finally becoming a reality," he said. The building is 34 years old and includes a gymnasium, an all-purpose room, a lobby, offices and restrooms. The new center will have a performance stage, more offices, a conference room, a game room, a soundproof performing arts room and a culinary arts room. The $2.5 million expansion will enlarge the existing first floor and add a second floor. Sarah Dynan has two choices once the pilates class starts: leave her office before it starts or stay there until it's over. Dynan, youth programs coordinator for the center, left it Tuesday night. Otherwise she'd have to weave through twisted bodies in a dark room to leave before the class ended. Dynan said she's looking forward to the expansion, especially getting a new office. "A window!" she said. "What a concept -- looking out!" The new building will be able to accommodate more programs and people, Scott said. In 1998, the center conducted a needs assessment survey that found that the center was not serving teens and young working adults. A performing arts room and a game room will target those groups. The center serves 1,200 children and 2,500 adults a year, Dell said, but it has been unable to add programs residents want because of the limited space. "We've served that many people with the space we have," Dell said. "But basically, we have to turn people away every year because we don't have the space." The center offers family therapy sessions, but the lack of space equals a lack of privacy for therapists and clients. Therapists share a room. But if more than one client shows up, therapists must kick administrative staff out of their offices. It's a logistical nightmare that plays out every day at the center. But with the new building, therapists will get their own offices that will have a separate entrance, away from the . om the lobby's hubbub. Besides offering more space, the center will be safer. For example, the current building has several places where people can enter and exit. In the new building, people will be able to come and go only through the lobby. A new drop-off area will let parents see their children enter the building and alleviate traffic congestion on the street. Construction is scheduled to start by next June, but site plans and zoning still must be approved by the City Commission. When construction does begin, some of the center's activities and offices will be moved to Island Baptist Church.