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New Neighborhood Center Opens Six Years After Tornado

City of Springfield, Office of the Mayor

A new $10 million community center has opened in Springfield, Massachusetts, six years after the old one was left in ruin by a tornado.

Mayor Domenic Sarno said the new community center means a lot to the South End neighborhood and to him personally. Sarno was executive director of the community center before being elected mayor in 2007.

" From the ashes rises a phoenix," said Sarno. " It is really heartfelt, really heartfelt."

The project was paid for with $6 million in federal disaster aid and $4 million in city funds.

The new 29,000 square foot building includes a large gymnasium with basketball courts, space for dance programs and boxing, an exercise area, and three classrooms.

The record-setting tenure of Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno. The 2011 tornado and its recovery that remade the largest city in Western Massachusetts. The fallout from the deadly COVID outbreak at the Holyoke Soldiers Home. Those are just a few of the thousands and thousands of stories WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill has covered for WAMC in his nearly 17 years with the station.