Miami Co. Park District breaks ground for first building with indoor space for public use

MIAMI COUNTY — The Miami County Park District will soon have a large indoor programming space for the public to use.

Tuesday the county broke ground on Heritage Hall that will be at Lost Creek Reserve just outside of Troy.

Scott Myers, the executive director of the Miami County Park District, said that the park has grown in popularity in recent years and

“Heritage Hall is a new era for the park district,” Myers said. “We have no indoor programming space. We don’t even have a location where we can get all our staff together inside in one place.”

Myers said in the past when there was inclement weather during a field trip there was no place for the students to go, soon when visiting Lost Creek Reserve there will be an alternative option.

As popularity and visibility grew at Lost Creek Myers said that there have been requests to hold celebrations and even weddings at the facility in the past but there wasn’t really a great way to accommodate large groups.

“It will also provide an opportunity for the community to come for other public programming, whether it be multi-generational programming or any of our public things that we do here plus it will provide folks an opportunity to reserve and rent the facility,” Myers said. “Maybe it’s for a wedding, a birthday party, for an anniversary party.”

In 2016 the park district began looking at constructing permanent bathrooms. In 2017 a levy was passed and the district began preparing to try and make more than just a bathroom.

“We’ve been setting aside money in our reserves so that we could do a facility like this,” Myers said.

The hope is to have construction finished by the end of 2021.

Candace Goodall is the architect for Heritage Hall and said it will fit the look of the former Knoop property and aesthetic.

“I think the unique feature of this structure will be the timber frame structure and its installation (or raising),” Goodall said. " The timber frame is indicative of the type of construction you would find in older barn structures that serviced farms in the area. By use of the timber frame it reinforces the heritage of the enduring strength of the farming community in Miami County. By implementing modern construction methods, the Park District will be a fine example of reinforcing that heritage while providing a code compliant/safe facility with modern amenities capable of serving the community for generations to come.”

The total square footage is 5,361 which includes the large 654 square foot front covered porch. Following are some building details:

• 138-person meeting space
• demonstration kitchen
• separate men’s and women’s, multi-stall, accessible toilet room facilities with baby changing stations
• water bottle filling station)
• office
• storage
• porch

Eco-friendly/sustainable building features:

• led light fixtures
• structural insulated panels enclosing the timber frame structure for a total envelope enclosure around the main portion of the building
• high insulation values
• low consumption plumbing fixtures
• quality materials inside and out and finishes intended for long term durability thereby reducing maintenance needs and short-term replacements

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