SALEM Center construction set

Membership fees will be affordable for the average person, an official said.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
SALEM -- Nearly a year ago, the Salem Community Foundation announced plans to donate $8 million to build a community center in Salem.
The goal set by the nonprofit charitable organization is expected to take shape this spring when construction is to start.
It will be on a nearly 10-acre site along North Ellsworth Avenue near 12th Street, adjacent to Waterworth Memorial Park.
What will be featured: The center will include a gym, running track, teen and community lounges, indoor pool, exercise area, meeting rooms and an arts and crafts area.
"We anticipate groundbreaking will be May 1," said John Tonti, president of the nonprofit Salem Community Center Inc., which will oversee the facility.
Center officials were to begin this week soliciting bids for the nearly 50,000-square-foot, two-story building.
Construction will take about 14 months, Tonti said.
Included in preparing the site will be the razing of four homes.
Besides a contractor, an administrator for the facility is also being sought.
Advertisements for the post have been taken out in trade journals and some newspapers, Tonti said.
"We would like to have someone on board by the time we do groundbreaking," Tonti said of the hiring.
What's important: Center officials say it's important the administrator be intimately familiar with all aspects of the facility, including its construction, Tonti explained.
While workers are building the center, the facility's organizers will be busy determining operational matters, including membership fees.
"We have to sit down and hammer that out," Tonti said.
But he emphasized the center's fees won't be too high and will be based on similar facilities throughout the region.
"We'll be as good, if not a little bit better," Tonti said. "I don't think the average guy will have a hard time affording it."
Excitement about the project is building in the community, Tonti said.
"A lot of people would like it to be in there tomorrow," he said.