The much-anticipated construction of the new Ewing Senior and Community Center will take a significant step forward with its official groundbreaking ceremony scheduled for Wednesday, March 5.
Local officials, community leaders and invited residents are expected to gather on the site of the center to celebrate the start of a project, which has been in the works for several years.
Once completed, the $34 million facility will serve as a hub for seniors, families and individuals with special needs, offering a wide array of services and amenities.
In December, the Ewing Township Council voted to award a $34 million contract to Benjamin R. Harvey Co. of Ocean Township for the reconstruction of the ESCC.
Construction will begin more than two years after a catastrophic fire burned down a large section of the ESCC. The five-alarm blaze on Sept. 30, 2022 destroyed the gymnasium and damaged many other parts of the ESCC, rendering the facility unusable.
Since then, the ESCC—a major hub for community activity—and outdoor facilities at the center have been closed, and most of the programs and offices, including Community Affairs and Recreation and the Senior Office, have been relocated to the Hollowbrook Community Center at 320 Hollowbrook Drive.
The new facility will be larger, offering expanded amenities such as a bigger gym, a walking track, and areas for various activities.
Although the insurance payout did not fully covere the rebuilding costs, the township decided to start fresh due to the building’s extensive damage and modern code requirements.
Ewing Observer editor Bill Sanservino recently sat down with Mayor Bert Steinmann to talk about various issues currently facing the township in 2025. Segments from that interview will appear in the Observer over the next few months.
The progress on the ESCC was the topic of discussion in this month’s portion of the interview. An edited version of the Q&A appears below.
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Ewing Observer: What can you tell me about the status of the Ewing Senior and Community Center and the groundbreaking in March?
Mayor Bert Steinmann: Yes, the groundbreaking is on March 5th, and the contract has been awarded to Harvey Corporation.
They received the award as the low bidder. I’m happy to report that the bid came in about 20% lower than the cost estimate.
The estimated cost of the construction project was around $42 million when we started, but the actual bids came in at $34 million. That was the winning contract.
I have to say, we had five proposals and they were all close. One was at $37 million, but most of them were around $34 million, with some in the $34 to $35 million range.
So, we’re very happy with the results, and now we can get started. Although the groundbreaking is March 5, the process of getting materials and equipment on-site has already begun.
There’s a lot happening right now at the site that people may not see, but by the end of March or the beginning of April, there will be visible construction taking place there.
Ewing Observer: What’s the timeline for completion of the facility?
Steinmann: We’re hoping they can still meet the timeline of June 2026.
Ewing Observer: In terms of amenities, does the project include everything that you had been looking for?
Steinmann: It includes everything except the indoor pool. People were clamoring for a pool, but the problem is that the footprint, while large, isn’t big enough to accommodate a pool that would make sense.
We could have put one in, but it would only fit five or six people at a time. When you consider the space needed for the pool and the environmental requirements for filtration, it just wasn’t worth the money.
There are also opportunities for people in the area to use pools elsewhere, like at Schaefer, Capital Health, or Barnabas Hamilton Hospital. So, it’s not like there’s a lack of pool options for the community. But our focus was on providing a functional, year-round facility.
Ewing Observer: I think the pool was pretty much ruled out about a year ago, the last time I talked to you.
Steinmann: Yes, that’s right. But we have made sure to incorporate everything else. The indoor track, sound studio, and black box theater are all included.
We have also made provisions for people with challenges to use the facility. Medical advancements have allowed people with certain challenges to live longer lives, but there aren’t always programs available for them.
We have considered that, and we’re moving forward with plans to accommodate them.
The gymnasium is actually one and a half gyms, which allows us to host multiple activities at once. In the old gym, we could only accommodate one activity at a time. Now, we’ll be able to hold several.
Ewing Observer: What about pool tables?
Steinmann: There will be five or six pool tables, state-of-the-art. We have also allocated space for the Patriotic Committee, and there will be plenty of wall space for arts and exhibits.
The facility will include a cafe, and there will be a banquet hall that can accommodate 125 to 150 people. It’s going to be great. We’ll have a sliding partition so that in the spring or summer, we can open it up and create an indoor/outdoor ambiance for dining or events.
Ewing Observer: How much outside funding, in terms of grants or insurance, did you secure for the facility, and how much are you going to need to bond?
Steinmann: Well, we have received $5 million from the state, which was the initial grant.
We petitioned for more funding, and a year and a half ago, we got an additional $500,000, bringing the total to $5.5 million. We just applied for another $500,000, and we received that, so we have gotten a total of $6 million from the state.
We also got more $1.05 million from the federal government, thanks to Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman (a Ewing Township resident) for her efforts. Additionally, we received a $1 million loan from HUD.
This loan is spread out over time, so we won’t see any additional funding for five years. But it’s not really a loan, more of an allocation over time. We’re also actively seeking private donations, and we have received a few already.
In total, we have gotten approximately $19 million from the insurance company. So, adding everything together, we have raised about $23 million. As for the bond, I have permission from the Council to bond up to $27 million.
However, we’re not going to borrow that full amount. We expect the final amount to be around $20 million. Any donations we receive will reduce the amount of bonding needed.
The good thing about our bonding situation is that as old bonds are paid off, we’ll take on new debt, but the overall payments to the bonding companies will stay stable over time.
We have two bonds retiring later this year and one in 2026, which will eliminate about $27 million in total debt. So, the new debt we take on won’t have any major impact.
Ewing Observer: So, as the bonds are retiring, the new financing will offset them, essentially making it tax-neutral?
Steinmann: Exactly. It won’t have any tax impact.
