WILLIAMSTOWN -- The construction of the new Williamstown Youth Center is on time and on budget, according to Executive Director David Rempell.
Rempell said Friday officials are hoping to have the project substantially completed, and be issued a certificate of occupancy, sometime at the end of September or beginning of October.
"Everything is going extremely well," he said. "The exterior of the building will totally be enclosed within a week to 10 days, and the sheet rock is up in most of the rooms."
The project is expected to cost $3.5 million.
Rempell said the Youth Center is planning to move into the building at the beginning of November, and then have a formal dedication ceremony on the weekend of Nov. 10 and 11. Prior to that, in the middle of October, they'd like to be able to give tours of the building to the community, he said.
"The more completed it gets, the more excited we get to see how well designed and functional the building will be," he said. "It will be a facility that this entire community will feel extremely proud of."
Construction of the approximately 12,300-square-foot, single-story building, which is located on the grounds of the elementary school, began in March. About a month before, officials with the Youth Center signed a lease with the Williamstown School Com mittee, allowing for the building to be on the elementary school grounds.
Rempell said that the organization is currently
"It will be a well-structured and creative program that exposes children to many new endeavors that we can't do in the present facility," he said.
With the Berkshire Dance Theater planning to work with the Youth Center, there will be a lot more movement and dance opportunities for children, he said.
"Other organizations have also contacted us about partnering," he said.
There will be a lot more arts opportunities available to students, as the new facility includes a functioning art room that doesn't flood when it rains, he said. They will also have access to the athletic fields at the elementary school, he said.
"We'll be hiring more people, and we're planning for more children than we've had in the past," he said. "Children are going to see the building, and they're going to want to be there."
The Youth Center is currently located on Cole Avenue in a former school building that is more than 100 years old.
Rempell said that they do have a prospective buyer for the Cole Avenue facility, but didn't wish to release any information identifying the buyer at this point.
"We are encouraged, and we hope to have the building sold by the time we move out," he said.
To reach Meghan Foley, email
mfoley@thetranscript.com.
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