New $12M Paterson rec center would have animation studio, gym
By Joe Malinconico
Paterson Press
PATERSON - City officials are shifting $2 million in state funding to a prominent Paterson nonprofit organization that plans to use the money to build a $12 million recreation center near John F. Kennedy High School.
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The center would include space for science, technology, engineering and math programs, as well as a gymnasium, a performance stage, an e-gaming room and an animation studio, the builder said.
..... It also would feature a new "entrepreneurial suite" to help teens create and manage micro-enterprises and a "College Central" room where families could go for help with collage admissions, financial aid and other support related to higher education.
..... "You cannot put a price tag on the value of giving our young men and women a safe space to develop, learn and excel," said Representative Nellie Pou, one of the project's biggest government supporters.
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"While I was in the Legislature, we worked hard to deliver state funding to make the new youth center a reality, and I am so excited by the support from the City Council," Pou said.
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Architects are almost finished designing the 400,000-square-foot building, and construction at the Front Street site may start before the end of this year. [2025] said Bob Guarasci, executive director of the nonprofit group, the New Jersey Community Development Corporation.
..... Guarasci said he hopes to open the center by March 2027. His organization already runs a teen center in two other buildings on Front Street, next door to where the recreation center would be built. those programs have 300 teenage enrolled and are used daily by 75 to 100 students, Guarasci said. The new building likely would result in doubling both enrollment and attendance, he said.
..... State Senator Benjie Wimberly said he was confident that Guarasci - often called "bob the Builder" by Mayor Andre Sayegh - would bring the recreation center to fruition.
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"One thing about Bob," Wimberly said, "If he's doing something, it usually gets done."
..... The organization already had $9 million in funding for the center - including $6.5 million from the state Legislature, $1.5 million from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development and $1 million in a private donation, Guarasci said.
..... The nonprofit has an application pending for a $1 million private grant for the final piece of the financial puzzle.
..... About five years ago, Sayegh earmarked $19 million of Paterson's federal COVID-relief funding to build a citywide recreation center for all ages.
..... But that project never got built, and the city used the federal money for other things.
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The $2 million that the city is providing the nonprofit group came from the New Jersey Legislature in an effort to revive the reception center plan. As part of an agreement between the nonprofit group and City Hall, the new center will be available for senior citizen programs on weekday mornings.
..... The City Council approved the agreement during its meeting on August 19, [2025] Council President Lilsa Mimms called the proposed new center :a win for our community: saying it would "cerate and foster safety, educational equity, youth development and programming and senior activities."