As reported by By Andy McKeever, iBerkshires Staff on Tuesday, March 20, 2012.
Read full iBerkshires article here: Williamstown Youth Center Breaks Ground On New Building

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — With a parade and singing, the town’s youth was forever changed on Tuesday as the Youth Center broke ground on a new building.

The nonprofit organization began construction on a new 12,000 square foot building on Elementary School land after three years of planning — an achievement Youth Center Executive Director David Rempell calls “historic.”

“These two buildings are a clear indication of the importance you are to us,” Rempell told hundreds of Elementary School pupils at the construction site on Tuesday. “This is happening because the adults in this community care about you.”

Scores of students marched from the school to the fenced-off construction area chanting “together, we did” — a play off the center’s capital campaign slogan, “together we can.” They gathered around former baseball fields where officials held a short ceremony to commemorate the occasion.

The children even sang their own song about the center and the event concluded with they and the Youth Center’s board of directors tossing the first shovels of dirt while the rest of the students cheered they on.

“In my opinion, this whole event is about community,” Rempell said. “We are making history here today.”

Construction is expected to last until Oct. 1 with occupancy on Oct. 31 and provide a new and closer partnership between the school and the center’s programming.

“This represents a new lease on life for the Youth Center,” President Paul Jennings said. “These shovels really are the beginning of digging and the machines will start digging tomorrow.”

The new center is expected to open at the end of October.
During the construction center officials said they have set up a camera to document the progress and they are currently planning new programming to go with the new building.

“This is going to be a new building that is used by you guys to enhance your learning in many, many ways,” Jennings said.

The building replaced their former building on Cole Avenue that had been worn into deplorable conditions and for years the center was seeking a new location and had their eye on a partnership with the Elementary School when the town built the new school in 2002.

In 2009, center officials received preliminary permission to build on the school’s land and embarked on a capital campaign to raise more than $3 million from more than 1,000 donors for the construction.

A groundbreaking was scheduled in 2010 but was delayed two times — once because of debate over the playground and another time to give architects more time to plan.

In February, Youth Center officials received the final nod of approval when they signed a 100-year lease with the school — setting the stage for Tuesday’s event.

More photos of the ceremony can be found here and below is a “fly by tour” created by the architects, Black River Design, of what the final building will looking like.