New Year's Eve bash to christen Sea Isle City's $21 million community center

This could very well be a once-in-a-lifetime New Year’s Eve celebration in Sea Isle City.

Welcoming the arrival of 2026 in grand style, the city is planning to hold a New Year’s Eve bash in Sea Isle’s new $21 million community recreation center to serve as the building’s first official event.

There is a chance the celebration may also serve as the community center’s official grand opening ceremony – giving New Year’s Eve an even greater significance in Sea Isle history.

City spokeswoman Katherine Custer said discussions continue among Sea Isle officials about the possibility of having New Year’s Eve serve as a dual celebration for the community center.

“We don’t know yet. It depends on the construction schedule,” she said.

At the very least, Sea Isle will stage a community-style New Year’s Eve celebration as the building’s first official event.

Depending on when construction is completed, the official grand opening ceremony could be held earlier than New Year’s Eve, if that’s what the city ultimately decides, Custer said.

    Exterior work includes the decorative elements on the building's facade overlooking Central Avenue.
  

All along, the city has been saying that the project is expected to be completed sometime this fall. An army of construction workers has descended on the building to put the final touches on the exterior and interior.

Custer said the building is about 85 percent finished and characterized it as a “beehive of activity.”

“It’s really an amazing site to see. It seems to be coming together very nicely,” she said.

Mayor Leonard Desiderio has been touring the building to keep up to date on what he called “the wonderful facility we are creating.”

“Last week I had the pleasure of touring our future Community Center twice – and each time I was thrilled to see new work that had been completed since the time before,” Desiderio said in a statement in Sea Isle’s most recent community newsletter.

The building’s design reflects the facility’s dual role as a community center and recreation facility. There will be a large gymnasium, basketball court, indoor walkway and workout space for sports and recreation. The building will also include space that local community groups may use for meetings, events and other activities.

    Mayor Leonard Desiderio, center, is joined on a tour of the community center by City Council members Ian Ciseck and Mary Tighe. (Courtesy of Sea Isle City)
  

Among the array of activities, there will be sports, recreation, special events, meetings, arts and crafts, theater camps and even line dancing and ballet classes. A stage in the main community room will accommodate entertainment.

Another feature will be a “quiet room” that will serve as a reading room, after-school study room, and a place that will have sensory features for families with special-needs children.

Architectural renderings of the community center show a glossy facade overlooking Central Avenue between 45th and 46th streets. A material resembling red brick will also cloak the front of the building as part of the attractive architecture to blend in with the surrounding neighborhood.

Inside the building, glass front doors have been installed and work on the lobby’s interior doorway vestibule is underway. Installation of the building’s insulation is completed, while work on the security, electrical and plumbing systems continues.

The interior stud walls are in place, and the installation of sheet rock is completed. Interior painting continues. Framework for the stage in the main meeting room has been completed, and the installation of other components of the stage has begun, the city said in a statement updating the construction.

On the exterior, the installation of the decorative cornice molding along the roofline has been completed. Work on the building’s exterior brick siding is nearing completion and the installation of accent tiles on the building’s exterior continues.

“Although a lot of work has been done, there’s still a considerable amount of work to do,” Custer said.

    Work continues inside the building on the main entrance. (Courtesy of Sea Isle City)
  

The community center will include a covered parking area underneath the building at street level that will have 40 spaces.

The facility will not include a swimming pool. During a 2019 referendum, local property owners voted overwhelmingly against including an indoor pool in the community center. The fear at that time was that a pool would make the project much more expensive for Sea Isle taxpayers.

To make room for construction of the community center, the city demolished the old Sea Isle City Public School at 4501 Park Road. The community center will occupy the same footprint of the old school on the block bordered by Park Road, Central Avenue, 45th Street and 46th Street.

The construction contractor is Ernest Bock & Sons Inc., a Philadelphia-based company that has built a diversified portfolio of more than $3 billion worth of public and private projects in the Philadelphia area, New Jersey and Mid-Atlantic region.

Bock & Sons is working with subcontractors to get the project done. Custer praised Bock for its professionalism, for keeping the construction site clean and safe and for collaborating with city officials on different aspects of the project.

“They are just so good,” she said of Bock.

    The community center's indoor walking track is taking shape on the upper level. (Courtesy of Sea Isle City)