Just six months after plans emerged to create a youth recreation center in the city, that project is on hold — for now.

“We have no place to call home right now,” said Councilmember Eric Goettl, who heads the Maricopa Community Coalition that advocated for a youth center in the city.

In November, the group said it hoped to repurpose the police substation on Bowlin Road and Greythorn Drive into a teen-focused hangout for recreation, classes and support services. The space would be managed by a private entity like the YMCA or Boys and Girls Club.

The 8,100-square-foot building, however, requires a fair amount of construction work and money to transform it into a recreation space.

It’s a dilemma that doesn’t give the group much wiggle room, Goettl said.

“We have a 20-year-old city that doesn’t have a lot of surplus property,” he said. “A lot of our teen centers in neighboring communities have inhabited older schools or older businesses. We just don’t have that kind of real estate.”

The committee now plans to advocate revising the city’s proposal to renovate the old substation, as well as adding a teen center to next year’s futures planning meeting.

The city has long lacked a designated youth center, according to coalition and zoning board member Jim Irving.

“People have been talking about this teen center for 10 to 12 years in Maricopa,” he said. “This is the furthest it’s ever gotten.”

And while Maricopa offers dedicated space for seniors and veterans, the city’s teens find themselves bouncing between school, home and Copper Sky Recreation Complex.

“I feel like there’s pretty much no space now [for teens],” said Louis Kroll in November. “It’s all shared with younger kids and kind of ruins the vibe.”