North Hempstead community center to open soon

The exterior solar wall is up, the basketball hoops have been installed and the TV studio is taking shape at the North Hempstead Yes We Can Community Center in New Cassel.

Town officials showed off the nearly $26 million center during a walk-through last week with Supervisor Jon Kaiman, Councilwoman Viviana Russel and community center director April Brown-Lake.

Set for completion in June and slated for a late summer opening, the 62,000-square-foot community center will have two NBA-sized basketball courts, a gym, game center, senior space, gathering spots to rent for events, a reading room and Internet cafe.

Emergency operations and public safety departments, the town television station and the 311 call center will also be housed at the center, as will the New Cassel Project Independence location.

The building was constructed to earn a Platinum LEED certification — Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards, developed by the U.S. Green Building Council, using a point system to rate environmentally sustainable buildings — and takes advantage of solar power, natural sunlight and environmentally conscious plumbing. An outdoor rain harvester will collect water to use in a community garden on the center’s grounds.

Private investors and developers financed more than 80 percent of revitalization costs, with federal, state, county and town funds and grants contributing the rest.

Photo: North Hempstead Town Hall.