Upper Darby has received a $1 million grant from the state’s Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program to fund the first phase of a new community center to serve the state’s sixth-largest municipality.
“We’re just really excited that we got the awards … This might be one of the first projects that’s purely of this administration, which is really exciting,” Mayor Barbarann Keffer said.
The grant will go toward the feasibility phase of the project, during which the township will work on planning for and design of the prospective new center, as well as gauging community interest and evaluating costs. When construction is eventually completed, the facility will replace an older multipurpose building at 7000 Walnut St. Local officials hope that it will bring revitalization to the area.
“It’s in the Stonehurst neighborhood in Upper Darby, and I think it would be fair to say it’s a traditionally underserved community, and we’re very excited to bring a green roof and a bright, modern, forward-looking facility into that neighborhood,” said Vincent Rongione, Upper Darby’s chief administrative officer. “And we love the idea that it’s accessible to public transportation and in a very walkable neighborhood, and also close to our big business district.”
From after-school tutoring and basketball courts to a yoga studio and supplemental classes, what the facility looks like on the inside will be up to township residents.
“We will be having some community meetings in the next couple months, they’ll be on Zoom, and we’ll probably have some socially distant outdoor meetings on the site, so people can get a feel for it,” Keffer said.
The architecture firm Buell Kratzer Powell was tapped to do an initial design of the project’s exterior. If you take a closer look at the artist’s rendering of the new center, you might notice that the property isn’t very big. Upper Darby officials say that they have a fix for that.