Residents of Ridgetown are celebrating an important construction milestone for the community's new seniors centre.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held on Monday for the new Ridgetown and Area Adult Activity Centre, located at Erie Street and York Street.
The 75,000 square foot facility will be three times larger than the current space, located on Main Street.
Ridgetown and Area Adult Activity Centre President Bob Dye said it's exciting to start see the project come to fruition. According to Dye, the groundbreaking has been years in the making.
"It was two years ago that a development team, eight members of the centre, began the planning," he explained. "We spent almost 12 months developing our business plan and began fundraising and communication to the community in October of 2019. "
The original plan was that the centre would be completed by the end of 2020. However, Dye said that date has been pushed back a few months because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We did lose six months," he said. "I announced [on Monday] to the group that our expected occupancy will be late April, early May 2021."
Now that the groundbreaking ceremony is complete, contractors will begin preparing the site for the building's foundation. Dye said clearing work on the site had already started before the formal groundbreaking was held.
According to Dye, the building should start to be erected in October. The building is set to cost around $2.5 million, which Dye said could not have happened without the generous donations from the community.
"It's a new type of building. It's a pre-engineered building. It's not going to be built with bricks and mortar," he explained. "It's a steel frame building, mounted on a cement pad, 60 feet by 125 feet, steel frame, steel siding... steel roof. There will be lots of windows and some stone accent on the site."
Because of municipal requirements that 30 per cent of the property must be green space, Dye said the site will also feature intricate landscaping featuring Carolinian plants and trees.
