Monrovia's Community Center Keeps Its 1925 Front and Rebuilds the Hall Behind It

The red-tile roof and cast-concrete entry pillars at 119 W. Palm Ave. went up in 1925, when the building housed the local newspaper. Fifty years later, in 1975, the City of Monrovia bought it for $155,000. The Community Center opened inside in November 1977 after a $775,000 renovation. According to the City's Community Center Renovation Project page, that 1977 work was the building's last major renovation.

The Center is set to close on Sunday, December 6. Operations then move to a City-owned building at 324 S. Myrtle Ave. The coming renovation keeps the 1925 newspaper building that faces Palm Avenue and tears down the hall behind it, where the city's largest gatherings take place. So the next few weeks are the last events in the Kay Dalton building as it stands today.

The Front That Stays Is the Newspaper Building

City design documents call the project an adaptive reuse of the historic Monrovia News Post, meaning the original building is updated in place. The plan keeps the original cast-concrete entry pillars, the red-tile roof, the stucco finish and the window sunshades. One goal in the City's July 2025 design presentation is stated plainly: "We want to honor original design of the News Post building."

Over the decades, the building grew around that front. The same presentation shows expansions around 1950 and again around 1975. Most of the renovation's work happens in those later additions.

The Hall That Goes Is Where the Crowds Gather

City Council approved demolishing and rebuilding the Kay Dalton building. It also approved removing the old racquetball and storage area and adding a Skyfold divider for the Kay Dalton Room. Council requested a full catering kitchen and an emergency generator, and said it was interested in rooftop solar panels with a two-day backup battery on site. A Skyfold is a partition that comes down from the ceiling and splits one big room into two.

The Kay Dalton Room is where Monrovia shows up in numbers. On October 16, the Monrovia Historical Society premiered its film on Monrovia's Route 66 there, as part of the city's final weekend of local Route 66 centennial events. The film is now on YouTube through the Historical Society and Community Media of the Foothills.

The July 2025 floor plan compares each room's current size with its proposed size. The presentation notes that later Council feedback was still being studied and would lead to changes.

Under this plan, the main hall barely grows: 70 square feet on a 4,000-square-foot room. The real changes are around it. The hall gets a reception area and a courtyard that rentals can use, and the Skyfold lets one big event become two smaller ones. The kitchen grows by about two-thirds and the craft room nearly doubles. The plan also adds rooms the building has never had: a family and gender-neutral restroom, a staff breakroom, a staff restroom, a nursing room and a service yard. Outside, the same presentation describes a 30-space parking lot with ADA spaces, EV charging, more trees, better lighting and an accessible path for pickup and drop-off.

The Last Weeks on Palm Avenue Overlap With Library Construction

The Center's final stretch lines up with a crowded season next door. The Monrovia Public Library's children's area is a construction zone until the work wraps up in December. The Story Room is growing from about 700 to roughly 2,000 square feet. In 2025 alone, the Library offered 368 programs for kids ages 0 to 11, serving nearly 27,000 participants. While the work is underway, storytime and other Story Room programs have moved to the Library's Community Room or to the Community Center. That means part of the Library's children's schedule is running out of the building that closes December 6. The Library suggests checking its calendar or calling 626-256-8274 to confirm where a program meets. At least 10 parking spaces and the sidewalk along West Lime Avenue are closed while construction lasts.

Here is the calendar from this week through the closure, all within a block or two of Palm and Myrtle:

1. Thursday, November 19, 5 to 8 p.m. The free Thankful & Grateful Holiday Gathering and Tree Lighting at Library Park, 321 S. Myrtle Ave. Expect live entertainment, library story times, community booths, crafts, photo spots and horse-drawn carriage rides, with a special guest lighting the Holiday Tree. The Monrovia Chamber of Commerce booth is serving hot chocolate.
2. Tuesday, December 1, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. The Monrovia Garden Club's annual Christmas Silent Auction at the Monrovia Community Center, with gifts and baskets donated by local businesses. It lands five days before the doors close.
3. Thursday, December 3, 7 p.m. The Holiday Parade heads north on Myrtle Avenue and finishes at Palm Avenue, the Community Center's street. Road closures run from 5 to 10 p.m. and cover Myrtle from Huntington Drive to Foothill Boulevard, plus nearby streets.
4. Sunday, December 6. The Community Center's planned closing day. The move to 324 S. Myrtle follows shortly after.

The Temporary Home Is an Old Town Office Building

According to the City's January 16 update, it bought 324 S. Myrtle Ave. as "a large commercial building in Old Town." The building came fully equipped with IT gear the City never used: 62 desktop PCs, a server, 15 laser printers and 73 monitors. The City declared all of it surplus and offered it to local nonprofits. In its capital plan, the City lists the relocation site as 324-328 S. Myrtle Ave., with $120,000 set aside for relocation improvements.

The project page lists what the Palm Avenue building holds today. The City plans to carry those functions to the temporary site:

• The Senior Nutrition Program, serving hundreds of meals a week
• Contract classes in youth and adult fitness, dance, music and art
• Private event rentals for weddings, memorials, birthdays and fundraisers
• A passport office open three days a week
• The Inclusive Recreation Program, serving more than 50 participants twice a week
• Case management for vulnerable community members
• The Community Services Department's administrative offices
• A satellite office for the Volunteer Center of the San Gabriel Valley
• Use as a cooling center and shelter when needed

The City describes 324 S. Myrtle as a space that "offers ample room for essential programs and services." The senior program page lists the New Horizons and Gad-a-Bouts clubs, senior lunches, Co-Mingle Mondays, Lunch & Learn, Food ED workshops, senior stretch, walking, karaoke and excursions at the Community Center. The City says it will share more over the coming months about the clubs, programs and activities that call the Center home, so residents know what to expect during construction. The passport page currently lists appointments Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., plus Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 5 to 8 p.m.

The Schedule Has Moved Back Most of a Year

The 2025 planning schedule had bidding from February to April 2026, a contract award in March 2026, construction starting in April 2026 and completion in February 2027. As of the City Manager's October 30 update, the project is out to bid, and the City will announce an official groundbreaking date by the end of the year. Colorado Boulevard Newspaper reported the same bid status and December 6 closing date on November 3.

The price has climbed as the design has firmed up. An October 2025 design presentation compared an earlier concept estimate of $25.7 million with $30.3 million at 30% construction documents, the stage when drawings are about a third complete. That figure includes soft costs such as design and permits. The City's FY 2026–2030 Capital Improvement Program, dated September 2025, puts the total project cost at $31,570,536. That breaks down to $30 million for construction and $1,570,536 for design, environmental and permit costs. Measure K and the CIP Fund cover design. As of that document, the construction funding source was listed as "Funding Source TBD" and the project was listed as 5% funded. The architect is Perkins Eastman Architects D.P.C., whose design agreement Council approved in February 2024.

Through all of these changes in cost and schedule, the plan still keeps the 1925 News Post front on Palm Avenue.

At Speranta Group, we follow civic projects like this one because they shape how the blocks around Library Park and Old Town will feel for years. If you own a home near Palm and Myrtle and want a clear picture of its value while this stretch of Monrovia changes, request a free home valuation.