Leo Augusta unveils redesigned community gym

As the enrollment at Leo Augusta Children’s Academy grows, so does the space it provides – not only to the children who attend, but to the community.

The latest piece to be finalized is the Community Space, a former cold storage building that housed the late Dick Kruckeberg’s collection of antique tractors.

It has been revitalized as a spot with a large school-age classroom and storage for LACA, but the real showstopper is the regulation-sized gymnasium.

It boasts a sport-court floor, which is an engineered material that “floats” on top of the concrete flooring under it. There are adjustable, permanent basketball hoops on each end, as well as a volleyball setup and rock-climbing wall.

It’s bright, thanks to natural light pouring through windows at the top of the walls, and activity noise will be muffled by the acoustical panels along the walls.

“It was a pretty big project,” said Amy Hinzmann, LACA Board Chairwoman and CFO/COO of Kruckeberg Industries.

The Community Space was as construction-intense as the main building, she said, which houses several classrooms, restrooms and a commercial kitchen.

“It needed to have a new HVAC design installed, but we left the walls where they were,” Hinzmann said. “We were checking – and it was the size of a full-size high school gym, so we were able to get the most out of it.”

There’s also a community room in the building – a large room that once served as the office for Dick and Lorraine Kruckeberg, whose middle names give the academy its name.

“I think the possibilities are endless,” for the building, said Doug Anderson, director of LACA, “whether it’s for a business, family, community education, school districts, yoga classes …”

A $10,000 grant from the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation will cover the cost of tables, chairs, and other equipment to be used in the building.

“It was all part of the master design” of the academy to have the commercial kitchen available for events in the Community Space as well, Anderson said.

The real debut will come Oct. 7 when a casino night is planned. It’s being billed as LACA’s first annual fundraiser.

“We haven’t been pushing it out there because it’s the summer months, so we didn’t really promote it,” Hinzmann said.

“This fall, when school is in session, we’re going to start marketing it more to get the word out,” she said of the space. “Word of mouth is our best promoter.”

Reserving the spot can be done by calling LACA; a simple agreement for private parties is available, as well as a large-event agreement for businesses and organizations. A fee will be applied.

“I’ve been saying, ever since this began, that I won’t rest until this gym is used 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Hinzmann said. “It’s here; it’s available, and we want the community and the nearby communities to realize this is an option for them.

“Please, use it,” she said. “We didn’t build this beautiful space just for the Leo Augusta Children’s Academy. It really is to be used by everyone. We missed a lot of that” for the last nearly three years, thanks to the pandemic.

“Let’s get back to that and have a space that people can enjoy.”