In a few weeks, the children will be back at the Penacook Community Center for the first time in nearly 18 months.
But it will look completely different.
At a ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday, local officials and the Boys & Girls Club of Central and Northern New Hampshire unveiled the newly constructed 9,000-square-foot building, which will house early childhood and after-school programs as well as a branch of the Concord Library.
The $6 million project replaces the old community center, which had significant structural problems.
“When you don’t have to worry about the sink clogging or the basement flooding or the roof leaking, you can better focus on what you really should be focusing on, which is the kids,” says Chris Emond, CEO of the Boys & Girls Club of Central and Northern New Hampshire.
The community center previously consisted of a cinder block building and two houses in the same area as the new center. The library was located in downtown Penacook in another building that was not in good condition.
The Boys and Girls Clubs merged with the community center in 2022 and the organization concluded a new building was needed. When they began planning the reconstruction, the city offered a partnership that included the library, Emond said. The city will pay about $1 million for the library’s new 1,400-square-foot space.
According to Emond, the new building, which has solar panels on the roof, is almost completely energy self-sufficient.
The community center has space for 46 infants, toddlers and preschoolers in its early childhood program and 45 school-age children in its afternoon program. The early childhood program is fully booked for the coming year, while there are still spaces available in the afternoon program, Emond said.
The center is also looking for four or five educators, Emond said. It will open to children for the first time on August 26.
Jeremy Margolis can be contacted at [email protected]..
