Three years ago, Felix Reyes, director of the city’s Office of Planning and Development, and other community leaders met with a group of sixth graders from the Bennie Dover Jackson Multi-Magnet Middle School to hear what was important to them in a community center. On Monday, several students from the same school signed the last piece of structural steel to be placed in the unfinished community and recreation center as part of a steel-topping ceremony. The ceremony marked the halfway point of construction, Mayor Michael Passero said. The 58,000-square-foot center in the Fort Trumbull neighborhood will include a gym, recreation office and classroom spaces, a community lounge and a kitchen. Construction is still on schedule for a summer of 2025 opening, Passero said. The project’s initial $30 million price tag, approved by the City Council in 2021, jumped by approximately $10 million as more detailed cost figures emerged. That funding gap was bridged with a combination of state and federal funding. The city was also awarded a $1.2 million grant through the state’s Brownfield Remediation program for pre-construction site work.
https://www.theday.com/local-news/20241007/steel-topping-ceremony-held-for-new-london-community-and-recreation-center/