Southie resident Tadas Jalinskas had just gotten done with his first workout at the Curley Community Center in over three years, but the 28-year-old said he couldn’t wait to spend more time in the weight and cardio rooms.
At long last, a $31.2 million renovation of the popular facility in Southie, along L Street Beach, has concluded, and members are back in gym mode.
“This is a significant upgrade from a facilities perspective, the equipment,” Jalinskas told the Herald, with sweat dripping from his face. “I’m looking forward to coming here for the foreseeable future.”
Thursday marked the first time members could workout on their own at the Curley Center in three years. The facility closed in March 2020, when the world shut down due to the pandemic, before construction started months later that October.
Walk through the main entrance of the community staple, and you’ll see large windows looking out at JFK Library, the Harbor Islands and Dorchester Bay. New fitness, yoga and dance studios, multi-purpose rooms, strength training area and more line the halls of the quarter-mile long building.
Jalinskas is not the only one fired up to get after it again.
Boston Centers for Youth & Families held four days of tours and membership assistance, beginning last Friday and ending Wednesday. Prior to the self-workouts starting up Thursday, more than 2,000 members had signed up, said Eddie McGuire, BCYF’s director of operations.
Some classes and other programming will commence on Tuesday.
“There’s just something sentimental,” McGuire said about the Curley Center. “You really get that feeling when talking to people about forever memories. This building means a lot to people because they learned to swim out there or spent the summers working here.”
The strong interest doesn’t surprise Andrea Flaherty, the center’s director of facilities. Many people stopped by the building during the pandemic to watch the renovation unfold, she said.
A big difference inside the renovated center is the ability to walk continuously from one side of the building to the other, which Flaherty called her “prize package.” In the past, she had to walk out of the quarter-mile long building to get from point A to point B, depending on location.
“It’s amazing,” she said.
The center is named after James Michael Curley, the former mayor who opened the L Street Bathhouse in 1931 to provide hot showers and recreational facilities to the city’s working people during the Depression.
Supply chain issues and a legal dispute between city officials and contractors delayed the project from an initially anticipated completion date of November 2021, according to the Dorchester Reporter.
The center was “pretty much ready to start operating in May,” but a beach management plan further delayed it to this month. The plan is necessary to ensure the endangered piping plover bird species is protected and lists ways BCYF will maintain the beach, which is closed through at least August, McGuire said.
Memberships are free until September, McGuire said, and his office plans to release information about annual membership fees for city residents and non-residents in August.
“For residents, it will not be anything substantial,” McGuire said. “We’re just kind of looking to make sure we have a budget that helps us sustain the facility and also offer the classes that people want to see.”
City Council President Ed Flynn, whose district covers Southie, said he grew up playing handball at the Curley Center, and he looks forward to creating more memories with old and new friends.
“This state-of-the-art facility is beautiful and welcoming,” Flynn said in a text message. “This facility will continue to welcome people throughout the city and it has something for everyone.”
