After years of waiting and debating, the doors of the Breslau Community Centre will be thrown open next weekend for residents anxious for a look at the new facility.
“It’s exciting for the Breslau residents, because they’ve been waiting for some sort of community centre for some time,” said Lisa Nadon, president of the Breslau Recreation Association.
Shovels went in the ground in July 2009, but there were years of lobbying and planning before the $2.2-million project reached that point.
Nadon said the facility will help bring together a community that now seems to be lacking a focal point.
“There’s the village, there’s the Empire subdivision and there’s the Thomasfield subdivision. I think it’s going to mean a place for everybody to come together in Breslau.”
Each of those subdivisions will bring 475 new homes to the village.
Residents have already embraced the centre with enthusiasm. Woolwich Youth Soccer agreed to set up a program in Breslau and registration attracted more than 60 kids interested in playing. People have also been signing up for spring programming, including adult fitness, yoga, kids’ cardio and floor hockey.
On Tuesday afternoon, workers were putting some of the finishing touches on the link between the gymnasium and the Empire Communities sales centre, which will eventually become seminar rooms and meeting rooms.
Under the agreement with Empire, the sales centre will be turned over to Woolwich Township when the subdivision is 80 per cent sold or by 2017. The township entered into the agreement with Empire Communities when cost estimates for the community centre ballooned.
The new building, a 10,000-square-foot gymnasium, was designed to complement the existing sales pavilion erected by Empire Communities. That structure is 3,600 sq. ft.; with the basement included, it provides about 7,000 sq. ft.
Under a deal made with the township in 2006, the company located the facility at Breslau Memorial Park with the intention of selling it to the municipality for $2 when the subdivision is built out.
Nadon said it’s not clear at this point exactly what will be located in the sales centre. The Waterloo Region Library is eager to expand to Breslau – the closest branch is Bloomingdale – and there is also a need for a preschool or daycare.
The grand opening celebrations kick off at 10 a.m. Mar. 27 with kids’ activities until noon. There are fitness demonstrations between 1 and 3 p.m. and the Breslau band performs at 3. A buffet dinner at 6 p.m. will be followed by the grand opening ceremonies, silent auction and dance.
