Groundbreaking set for community center

The organizers' next step is hiring a director.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
SALEM -- Groundbreaking is set for a community center that has been planned for nearly two years.
Work is slated to start Thursday on the $9.5 million facility to be constructed on a nearly 10-acre site along North Ellsworth Avenue near 12th Street.
Organizers say it will take about 14 months to build the 50,000-square-foot two-story structure.
Something for everyone: The facility will feature an indoor swimming pool, running track, teen and community lounges, meeting rooms and an arts and crafts area.
General contractor for the undertaking is Stitle Construction, Salem.
The nonprofit Salem Community Center Inc. is overseeing the project, whose expense is being underwritten by the Salem Community Foundation.
The foundation is a charitable organization that gives money to many community projects and agencies.
"I'm excited. It's been a long road," Mayor Larry DeJane said Monday of this week's groundbreaking and all the planning that's gone into making the project happen.
Although the community center is not part of city government, DeJane joined other elected officials, citizens and civic and business leaders on a board that helped plan it.
"Salem will benefit from it," the mayor said.
Next to park: DeJane, former city parks director, noted that he is particularly pleased with the center's location adjacent to another recreational site, the city's Waterworth Memorial Park.
Organizers originally considered a downtown spot for the center but could not find a suitable place.
Council President Dave Ventresco called the center "an asset that will be here for a long time. I think the facility is going to be a definite plus," Ventresco added.
Even as community center officials prepare for construction of the facility, they're still trying to hire someone to run it.
"We're getting very close to hiring a director," John Tonti, community center president, said Monday.
Center officials have said they want the facility's director to be hired long before it opens so he or she can be intimately familiar with all aspects of the center, including its construction.