Sea Isle's $21 million community center encounters slight delay

A slight delay will push back the grand opening of Sea Isle City’s $21 million community recreation center into January, spoiling tentative plans for a New Year’s Eve celebration as the building’s first official event.

Mayor Leonard Desiderio said interior work on the community center is nearing completion, but there’s been a delay in securing the parts necessary for construction of the building’s elevator.

“Delivery of these parts is expected later this month, which will push our move-in date into January,” Desiderio said while giving an update on the project during a City Council meeting Tuesday.

Completion of the project was originally targeted for the fall, but was then pushed back to the end of December. Sea Isle officials previously said they wanted to welcome the arrival of 2026 in grand style by holding a New Year’s Eve bash in the community center to serve as the building’s first official event.

City spokeswoman Katherine Custer said the delay with the elevator parts means that the community center will not be ready in time for a New Year’s Eve celebration.

“We don’t want to open up until we’re completely done, so we will have to wait until 2026. But we’ll all get there together,” Custer said in an interview after the Council meeting.

In a final push to complete the project, an army of construction workers has descended on the building to put the finishing touches on the exterior and interior.

The lead construction contractor is Ernest Bock & Sons Inc., a Philadelphia-based company that has built a diversified portfolio of more than $3 billion worth of public and private projects in the Philadelphia area, New Jersey and Mid-Atlantic region.

Once completed, the center is expected to be a community anchor for Sea Isle for decades to come.

    The flooring of the community center's elevated walking track is being installed. (Courtesy of Sea Isle City
  

The building’s overall design reflects the facility’s dual role as a community center and recreation facility. There will be a large gymnasium, basketball court, indoor walking track and workout space for sports and recreation.

The building will also include space that local community groups may use for meetings, events and other activities.

The community room will have a stage and is expected to one of the most heavily used parts of the building for meetings, events, entertainment and other activities.

Architectural renderings of the community center show a glossy facade overlooking Central Avenue between 45th and 46th streets. A material resembling red brick will also cloak the front of the building as part of the attractive architecture to blend in with the surrounding neighborhood.

The community center will include a covered parking area underneath the building at street level that will have 40 spaces. Construction crews are preparing to pave the parking area and the work should be completed within the next two weeks, Desiderio said.

Despite its array of amenities, the community center will not include a swimming pool. During a 2019 referendum, local property owners voted overwhelmingly against including an indoor pool in the center. The fear at that time was that a pool would make the project much more expensive for Sea Isle taxpayers.

    Construction is also being done on 46th Street next to the community center site.