Neighborhood House renovation project takes shape

NORTHEAST HARBOR – For 95 years, residents of this summer community have seen the Neighborhood House, a fairy-tale cottage on Main Street, as their second home. But lately, the community center hasn’t been able to juggle the demand for ballroom dance, yoga, crafts, computers and kickball.

So last week, the center began a $400,000 effort to take back the dilapidated ground floor of the Neighborhood House, said Executive Director Hob Calhoun.

“We’re in the demolition stage, recovering about half our house from demise,” he said.

The lower floor, which once served as a bowling alley, has not been used since the mid-1970s, Calhoun said. But as interest in the Neighborhood House has grown, the community center’s board of directors decided to raise the funds to refurbish the nearly 2,000 square-foot space.

“There’s been a revived interest in the past four or five years,” he said. “We’ve been bursting at the seams.”

Ninety-five percent of the board’s campaign to raise funds for the project was completed in just two years, and all the money was raised locally, Calhoun said. In fact, the capital campaign drive exceeded expectations, and Neighborhood House directors have created a permanent endowment for the center’s upkeep, which they hope to build with future fund-raising projects, he said.

Construction funds have been available since spring, and architects from Bucksport-based Lewis & Malm completed their design for the new ground floor, which will include a large multipurpose room, a smaller conference room, bathrooms and a computer lab.

But finding a contractor through the heavy summer construction season proved difficult and delayed the project for a few months. Newport-based Bowman Bros. Inc. finally was awarded the contract, however, and work commenced last week. The job is expected to be completed by March 2001.

“Because of the building boom, we had to be patient,” Calhoun said.

The Neighborhood House sponsors at least “a couple dozen” activities each week, Calhoun said. And during the summer months, that might double, requiring more room than the community center currently has available.

“We not only have the interest to fill the new space, we’re already trying to run that level of activity,” he said. “We’re responding to community interest, and in doing so, we’ve kind of backed ourselves into a corner.”

With the new 30- by 60-foot multipurpose space downstairs, the Neighborhood House will gain the ability to schedule long-term activities, such as theatrical productions, without taking away opportunities from other groups.

“It’s hard to have two functions at the same time – if you have everything happening on one floor, it’s impossible to segregate,” Calhoun said. “If two groups need a large space now, they’re out of luck.”

The ground-level multipurpose room will lack the soaring ceilings and stage that make the neighborhood house’s main hall unique, but scheduling lectures and other activities downstairs will free up that hall for activities such as Acadia Community Theater productions, which require its special features.

And an additional ground-floor entrance will give those attending events, such as lectures from Acadia Senior College, a handicap-accessible means of entering the Neighborhood House without weaving through a kickball game or Cub Scouts meeting.

In the new computer lab, residents will have the opportunity to use free word processing, Internet and e-mail programs on six public machines.

Initially, the machines will be available by appointment, so first-time users can have a tutor on-hand to explain the basics. Eventually, Calhoun hopes to add formal computer classes to the Neighborhood House’s schedule.