Mayor Leonard Desiderio, second from left, points to some of the features of the project during a tour of the construction site.
In an update on the project, Mayor Leonard Desiderio describes many of the features and benefits of the city’s $21 million community center that will open in the fall of 2025. His statement follows:
I recently took my second “close-up” tour of Sea Isle City’s future Community Center – and I’ve noticed that each time I am there, I get more and more excited about what’s to come.
Since we have been planning this project for many years – and, when completed, the Community Center will have many different components – I would like to take this opportunity to offer you some “fun facts” that hopefully will serve as reminders of the various features the Community Center will ultimately offer us all.
For example, I look forward to seeing people of all ages enjoying the Community Center’s 9,000-square-foot gymnasium, which will have an NBA-size basketball court and stripes on the gym floor for volleyball and pickleball games.
There will also be retractable bleachers that will seat hundreds of spectators, a retractable curtain that will divide the gym into two separate areas when we want multiple activities to take place simultaneously, and an elevated “Sky Track” that will allow people to run and walk in a climate-controlled environment any time of the year.
An architectural rendering depicts the community center's front entrance overlooking Central Avenue. (Courtesy of Ernest Bock & Sons Inc.)In addition to the gym, the Community Center will also have a fitness room that will be dedicated to instructional fitness classes like Yoga and Sit-Fit-Seniors, an expansive lobby that will serve as a waiting area and a “swing space” for special events.
It will also include several smaller rooms for indoor summer camp programs, after school events, board meetings and other gatherings, and a large “Community Room” that will serve as the main gathering space for local civic groups, large community events and a wide range of other purposes.
I hope you are as excited as I am about the Community Center – because I promise to keep that excitement going strong, right up until we host a Grand Opening Ceremony in the autumn of 2025!
Smile … You’re in Sea Isle! Mayor Leonard C. Desiderio
