Getting a tour of the new Belle Haven Community Campus before May 18 opening

The new Belle Haven Community Campus (BHCC) will have a grand opening on Saturday, May 18, 2024, with a ribbon cutting ceremony at 11:00 am followed by tours of the facility, live local music, food and activities for children and families.

We got a preview tour of the Campus today from Library and Community Services Supervisor Rondell Howard  and Menlo Park Library and Community Services Director Sean Reinhart. Rondell was quick to mention that it’s special for him as he grew in Belle Haven and East Palo Alto.

At 37,000 square-foot, the multi-service campus — located at 100 Terminal Avenue —is impressive. It includes the Belle Haven Library, Belle Haven Pool, Belle Haven Youth Center, Menlo Park Senior Center, and Onetta Harris Community Center, all of which were separate facilities before BHCC was built. Inside you’ll find a public gymnasium, fitness center, movement studio, makerspace and event hall, children’s and all age libraries, as well as indoor and outdoor gathering spaces,

The project preserves mature redwood trees and incorporates drought-tolerant, native plantings on the campus grounds adjacent to Joseph B. Kelly Park. Design and construction of the BHCC took only four years from concept to completion, and is the result of an innovative partnership between Menlo Park community members, the City of Menlo Park, and Meta Platforms, Inc.

“The top priority for this project was and is to build a new community space that will improve the quality of life for residents in the Belle Haven neighborhood and the rest of Menlo Park. A beautiful campus, a jewel nestled in a neighborhood that I like to call the treasure triangle because of our great diversity of residents,” said Mayor Cecilia Taylor in a statement.

BHCC is an all-electric, zero combustion, net zero energy facility with on-site renewable energy generation, battery microgrid, solar pool heating, and electric vehicle charging stations. Its structural design is resilient and serves as an emergency shelter. The City will seek LEED Platinum certification for BHCC, the highest standard of sustainable building that addresses energy, materials, health and indoor environmental quality.

The project was built with the generous financial support of Meta and from City of Menlo Park taxpayers through Measure T bond funds, along with city infrastructure funds. Friends of Menlo Park Library, the Maria S. Hoffman Trust, and Menlo Park Library Foundation generously donated additional financial support to provide furniture, equipment, books and media to outfit the new campus for the community.

Menlo Park-based Meta championed the City’s goals to construct a new community campus that met the needs of residents and responded to community voices who advocated for a new multigenerational campus in the Belle Haven neighborhood.

In addition to free community programs and services through the new Belle Haven Library, the campus will host popular neighborhood-oriented classes that Belle Haven residents have requested such as health and wellness for older adults, Spanish for youth and adults, soul dance and Aztec dance, arts and crafts, coding, job seeker programs and more. Belle Haven residents are able to sign up for classes at BHCC starting April 27: menlopark.gov/activityguide. Enrollment open to all Menlo Park residents on April 30 and to non-residents on May 3.

Photos by Linda Hubbard (c) 2024