Boxing group eyes space at fairgrounds

March 31, 1998|By JULIE E. GREENE

Has-Beens Boxing is looking for a new home, possibly at the Hagerstown Fairgrounds.

The youth group's 17 members have been working out at Fitness Priority health club on East Baltimore Street since being evicted from the former Hagerstown Armory in September 1997, said Has-Beens President Dick Hess.

The group had to leave the old armory because the state-owned building had several building code violations.

Hess said Has-Beens does not have a boxing ring at the health club and has had to turn youths away because the group doesn't have a base of operations.

Hess said he would prefer to return to the armory on North Potomac Street, but is considering the second floor of the fairgrounds clubhouse.

The fairgrounds building would require some renovation and probably an elevator for handicap-accessibility, said Austin Abraham, the city's project coordinator.

The City Council would have to approve the boxing club's use of the clubhouse at the city-owned fairgrounds and determine who would pay for the work, Abraham said.

The Police Athletic League will begin using the first floor of the clubhouse as a meeting place, probably by mid-April, said Brett McKoy, president of the organization and a Hagerstown City Police officer.

Maryland Department of General Services officials, who oversee the former armory, have not determined whether it could be used by a community group, said spokesman Dave Humphrey.

A satellite office of the Maryland State Agency for Surplus Property in Jessup, Md., will open at the armory this summer, Humphrey said.

State agencies and local governments in Western Maryland will be able to pick up supplies at the armory and the armory also would accept surplus properties from state agencies, he said.

The agency stores property such as furniture, computers and hospital equipment, Humphrey said.

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