Terasaki Budokan was stalled for decades. Now the Little Tokyo sports center is finally en route to break ground

The gymnasium is expected to open in 2019

Little Tokyo Service Center's rendering of its future sports facility (credit: LTSC)
Little Tokyo Service Center's rendering of its future sports facility (credit: LTSC)

Little Tokyo residents will soon have a place to exercise in their own neighborhood.

Little Tokyo Service Center announced it will soon break ground on its long-stalled sports center, Terasaki Budokan, named after a philanthropist and scientist whose foundation donated $3.5 million to the project, Los Angeles Downtown News reported.

The 35-foot-high, one-story development at 237-249 S. Los Angeles St. features a gym for basketball, volleyball and martial arts; a rooftop terrace and community rooms. The LTSC reached a 50-year lease agreement with the city for a one-acre parcel near the former St. Vibiana’s Cathedral.

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LTSC began planning its recreation center in the 1980s, after the community and local Japanese-American sports leagues raised concerns about their struggles to find gym space.The LTSC has fundraised roughly $24.3 million over the past two decades. It still needs $700,000 to reach its budget.

Alan Kosaka, chair of the Budokan capital campaign, expects the remainder to be raised through grassroots donations. Budokan has a tentative opening date in early 2019. [DTN] – Naiwen Tian