By Maria Prato-Gaines, Staff Writer
MONROE — With construction moving at a timely pace, local officials are projecting that the township’s Community Center expansion project will be completed by as early as fall.
Although the community center was opened in 1993, a recent increase in program membership prompted officials to look into the expansion.
”The Community Center was totally inadequate in servicing the growth with the Recreation Department,” said Wayne Hamilton, township business administrator. “The basketball program has over 1,000 children. There are about 600 cheerleaders in our program. It came down to a growth situation.”
At a price tag of about $5.5 million, the project will double the center’s space from approximately 15,000 square feet to approximately 30,000 square feet, he said.
”It’s literally almost flipping the building over,” Mr. Hamilton said. “It should be ready for occupancy sometime in September.”
In its current state, the Community Center, sitting on a 4.5-acre parcel, houses a full-size gym, two classrooms and several Recreation Department offices.
The expansion will add a second gym, a fitness center, an auxiliary gym and two meeting rooms, Mr. Hamilton said.
Along with the additional space comes some additional programming, which will incorporate a special needs program as well as offer up its surplus of meeting space to community organizations, including the local Scout troops, Mr. Hamilton said.
”There’s just so much demand for community meeting space,” he said.
The center’s expansion is being built in two phases, first with the addition and the second with a renovation to the older section.
Since programs will be shuffled between the current space while the additions are being built and then to the expanded area once renovations on the original building are under way, closures will be limited and the project will have no long-term affects on the programming, Mr. Hamilton said.
”This is really going to expand our existing programs,” he said. “It’s obvious the programs have come a long way.”

