‘Diamond in the rough.’ Why Beaufort residents want to bring Greene St. Gym back to life
Sam Burke and Ed Allen walked through the Charles Lind Brown Center in Beaufort, where old trophies, student of the month pictures and school classroom decorations are displayed.
A prep school moved out in 2020, then COVID-19 hit, which ended after-school and summer programs at the facility.
“Kids are out there,” says Burke, a retired director of the Boys and Girls Club of Beaufort, while walking through the empty facility. “They are ready to come in.”
The two men are members of a task force aimed at revitalizing the facility at 1001 Hamar St., sometimes called the Greene Street Gym. They want to see additional programming offered at the downtown-area gathering spot for a range of ages from youth to seniors.
The task force is asking for the public’s help in identifying the kinds of services, activities and events they would like to see at the center in a survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/CharlesLindBrownCenter.
“I think we have a diamond in the rough. We just need to polish it, and we look for your support,” Allen said of the center when he and others spoke in support of the revitalization effort at the Beaufort City Council in May.
In a neighborhood, if you don’t hear the sounds kids, it’s a sign that it is dying, Allen added.
“We want to bring life back into that center,” he said.
The Charles Lind Brown Center is owned by Beaufort County and run by its Parks and Recreation Department. The request for additional programming comes as a consultant is reviewing all of the county’s recreational facilities as part of its master planning process, said Chuck Atkinson, assistant county administrator for Development and Recreation.
Information gathered by the Beaufort task force will be included in that process, Atkinson said.
The center has an outdoor pool, indoor and outdoor basketball courts, a small playground and classrooms. The pool and outdoor basketball court have remained open, and the indoor basketball was played on in May through July, Atkinson said.
“It’s not that the building is shuttered and nobody is using it,” Atkinson said.
Bridges Preparatory School, which had leased the building, moved out in early 2020. Then the county closed all of its buildings because of COVID-19. The pandemic affected summer, senior and after-school programs at all county buildings, Atkinson said. A plan is in place to relaunch those programs as soon as possible “but we are watching COVID.”
Increased programming at the center has been a community discussion before, particularly following shootings that have occurred near it.
During a spate in 2015, three men were shot and killed, including two in the vicinity of the Charles Lind Brown Center.
Fitness and sports? Counseling? Computer classes? Dance? Tutoring? Crafts? Those are the types of activities residents are being asked about in the survey.
Generally speaking, Allen and Burke envision a facility, staffed by Beaufort County, where kids could be mentored, play sports and participate in after-school programs. They also see a place where adults and seniors could gather to socialize and learn as well.
As it stands, Allen noted, the closest senior centers are in Burton, Port Royal and St. Helena Island.
“It could be a fully functional facility, you know?”Allen says.
It was constructed in 1978 and later deeded to Beaufort County. Originally called the Greene Street Gym, it was named after Charles “Lind” Brown. Brown was a tailor with a small shop on Ribaut Road who organized a little league baseball team that played games at the site at a time when there were no recreational facilities for Black children in the community, Allen said.
“We’re fortunate that the brick and mortar is here,” Allen says.
Task force members have even been walking door-to-door in the neighborhood talking to residents about the center. Mitch Mitchell, a member of the Beaufort City Council, joined them over the weekend. He found a positive response to the idea of additional programming.
“They’re all in,” Mitchell said. “White, Black, everybody I spoke with.”
A number of residents, Mitchell added, said, ‘Hey, I remember that gym. I went to that gym as a child. Very responsive.”
Mitchell would like to see the Charles Lind Brown Center become something similar to the Buckwalter Recreation Center in Bluffton. He realizes it will not rise to the size of that facility, but it could become a “useful facility” offering quality senior and youth programs and events. Mitchell sees the potential in utilizing resources and talents of the Beaufort Digital Corridor at the center. The corridor organization nurtures technology entrepreneurs.
A facility with top programs and activities at this location in the core part of the city is critical, Mitchell said, because it is unrealistic to think a child living there will walk or bike to the Burton Wells Park County Park facilities on Recreation Drive.
“This is investing in the human resources of our community,” Mitchell said.
Allen says he would like to see police participation to encourage positive interaction between kids and law enforcement.
This story was originally published August 2, 2021 at 3:26 PM.
