Michael Maron likes to imagine a time-lapse video showing a day in the life of the Jewish Community Center on the Hudson.
Maron, chairman of the JCC on the Hudson board, said one little space might transform over the course of a day from a music hall to a miniature karate dojo to a gymnastics space and dance studio.
“It would blow your mind,” he said.
The current JCC, in Tarrytown, is a 17,000-square-foot former medical office building, but the group is expanding next door to a former General Motors training facility to create a 75,000-square-foot, 6.6-acre campus.
Maron calls the new JCC a “full-service” facility, complete with an expanded fitness center, gym, gymnastics area, pool and locker room. There will be more space for administration offices, a café and 250-seat auditorium, which means less need to daydream about time-lapsed uses of shared spaces.
JCC on the Hudson formed in 1929 and has been at its Tarrytown location since 1995. The river towns”™ Jewish community is the fastest-growing Jewish community in Westchester County, according to the UJA-Federation Jewish Communal Population Study of 2011.
“I think we”™re in a great location,” Maron said. “In addition to that, roughly 30 percent of our programs are attended by non-Jews in the community. ”¦ The entire community takes advantage, which is kind of cool.”
According to the group, it offers nearly 400 hours worth of programming per year, with child care programs for more than 200 children, day camp for 350 children and recreational programs for more than 500 adults. One area of focus that could come along with the new facilities is an expanded teen program. The new facilities will come with youth groups, a teen lounge and opportunities for art exhibits and use of the auditorium, which can give JCC members a “cradle to the grave” experience, he said.
“When kids grow up out of preschool/young camp, we sort of lose them, then they come back as adults either when they have children or when they get involved in some of our adult programs,” he said.
The JCC has been discussing expansion for two decades. Years ago, the board of trustees contemplated moving out of its Tarrytown facilities and finding another location nearby. They scouted several locations before the GM property next door hit the market with a $7 million price tag. The JCC bought the property about five years ago, for the relatively modest price of $3.2 million, Maron said. It was able to work within the footprint of the GM property, which was formerly used to train mechanics. The proximity to the existing building allowed for the opportunity to build a campus, similar to the properties of other JCCs in the area, complete with a covered walkway and linking landscaping and amenities that provide for a “stay there” as opposed to a “drop-off” experience for members.
“This just worked out perfectly,” Maron said. “It was meant to be.”
The JCC is in the midst of an eight-week flash fundraising drive, looking for $1 million worth of pledges for its new facilities, part of an ongoing $7 million fundraising goal. The group hopes to break ground this year, anticipating approvals from the building department and having already put the project out to developers in a pre-bid process.
The JCC announced the campaign June 2 at its 85th anniversary celebration and had already received $200,000 worth of new pledges by the week ending June 20. It has already received more than $6 million worth of pledges in total and will obtain financing to fund the remainder of the construction costs.
For more information about the campaign or new center, visit jcconthehudson.org.
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