WYTHEVILLE -- Steve Moore couldn't seem to stop grinning.

Moore, Wytheville's assistant town manager, was showing people through Wytheville's new $17 million-plus meeting and recreation center. It has been completed after nearly two decades of plans, false starts and bringing together a potpourri of funding partners.

Mayor Trent Crewe said Moore was the point man in bringing all the diverse elements of the project together. "It's taken many years and many twists and turns," Crewe said.

But it's a done deal now, having opened for an invitation-only preview Thursday, to the public Saturday and continuing today through Wednesday with afternoon and evening tours.

No wonder Moore is smiling.

He's not the only one.

Vice Mayor Jackie King has been on Wytheville Town Council for 15 years, and a new community center has been a hot topic for much of that time, she said. The town has had a smaller, basic community center downtown on Fourth Street for more than 30 years, but its leaders badly wanted something more.

"More" now means a 2,000-square-foot indoor swimming area, 4,000-square-foot cardio and fitness area, sports facilities including courts for basketball and racquetball, and space catering to groups from young people to seniors. The whole building covers 104,000 square feet.

Wytheville, located at the crossing of Interstates 81 and 77, has seen a burst of growth. Plant openings in recent years include a $140 million PepsiCo Inc. production plant, a $105 million Amcor PET Packaging plant and a $140 million Gatorade production and distribution facility. Wythe County's job levels had grown by 6 percent over five years before those companies even started.

It would seem a good locale for conventions and other large meetings, but despite Wythe County's 1,300-plus motel rooms, there was no facility for such gatherings. Now there is, and Rosa Lee Jude, town tourism director, said it has already been booked for 25 days in April and more dates the rest of the year.

Gwen Duncan, meeting services scheduler, can be contacted toll-free at (866) 694-8287 or by e-mail at meetings@wytheville.org.

Moore said the town added 30 employees to staff the facility.

Center plans took many forms over the years. In 1992, there was going to be a partnership between the town and Wythe County Community Hospital to revamp the downtown center to handle a few hundred people.

A more ambitious plan took shape when Bill Snyder, a former Wytheville Community College president, helped talk the state community colleges board into donating land on the campus for the center. Current President Charlie White said the child development center in the facility will not only offer low-cost child care but serve as a laboratory for an early childhood development curriculum starting in May.

The federal rural development agency provided more than $14 million in funding for the center. The Wythe-Bland Community Foundation provided $2.5 million. The Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission kicked in more than $90,000 for projectors, wireless Internet and other equipment. The Virginia Department of Housing & Community Development added $700,000 toward the child care center, which Community Developer Joe Blevins said would allow parents to go to both classes and jobs.

BurWil Construction built the facility, and Worley Associates was the architect. Ron Worley said Wytheville officials were the "most tenacious" group with which he ever dealt in their determination to bring the elements of the center together. "They just never gave up," he said. "This is the most outstanding project our firm has ever done."

On the Net: wythevillemeetingcenter.com