The renovations include the replacement of windows and window frames throughout the building. (Lucas Strough/Kilgore News Herald)

KILGORE — Kilgore city officials and staff cut the ribbon on the newly renovated Martin Luther King Jr. Community Building, officially marking the completion of the facility upgrades at the site.

The building, located at 1003 Martin Luther King St., has undergone extensive renovations in order to better equip it for use as a rentable space for community events.

Mayor Pro Tem Victor Boyd, who helped lead the initiative to renovate the structure, welcomed guests to the event.

“It is an honor to be here today. This has been something that we have been trying to achieve, to build up for the community, for several years. These are some beautiful upgrades,” Boyd said of the completed renovations. He described how he had visited the facility the previous weekend and met with some community members using the building who were “very happy” with the upgrades. Boyd predicted the rest of the community would give it their “stamp of approval” as well.

Rev. Larry Washington, Senior Pastor of Post Oak Baptist Church of Kilgore, delivered a prayer before the ribbon cutting, offering thanks for the completed renovations and declaring it would be “a day to remember” for the community, who will enjoy years of additional use of the renewed building.

The renovations include changes to the facility bathrooms to create two single-occupancy unisex bathrooms that are ADA-compliant, new amenities in the prep kitchen, the replacement of windows and window frames and a total replacement of the building’s lighting with new LED, recessed can lighting. Sewer and water lines from the building to the street have also been replaced.

Throughout the building, photos were displayed showing the previous state of the facility, which had been worn down from years of continued use, to compare to the new renovations.

The MLK Community Building is one of a few facilities, along with the Meadowbrook Event Center and Texan Theater, which the city makes available for rental by the public.

The facility had been in need or remodeling and upgrades for some time. The renovation project was initially proposed and budgeted in 2021 but was put on hold. The work began last year. The building was closed prior to the remodeling because it had reached an “unmarketable and unusable condition.”

City Manager Josh Selleck also spoke about the process of renovating the structure. Selleck, who has announced his retirement for the end of the month, said the MLK Building project was one of the highlights of his 9 1/2 years as city manager in Kilgore.

“When I first got to Kilgore, it had been a few years since the city had taken over operation of this building. There were issues with the door frames, the floor boards. We held a city council workshop here and the industrious city staff came through and filled in the holes in the floors and patched up the door frames. Fast forward a few years later and we had some more conversations and the city council was able to find the funds to prioritize this project. It did take a while. Keith Yorgason, our director of parks and facilities, spent months finding contractors. He and his staff worked tirelessly to get this done and to get this up to the quality that it deserved. This facility the most booked facility in the city’s inventory,” Selleck said.

For more information or to reserve the community building, call City Hall at (903) 984-5081.