NEW GIRLS CLUB CENTER BREAKS GROUND IN MANHATTAN

NEW YORK CITY — The groundbreaking has occurred for the new Lower Eastside Girls Club Center for Community. The project is located at the intersection of Avenue D and East 7th Street on the Lower Eastside of Manhattan. The 12-story project includes the 30,000-square-foot Girls Club Center on the bottom three floors and 78 mixed-income apartment units on the upper nine floors. The Girls Club will include classrooms, a planetarium, a library, art and dance studios, a broadcasting station, a fitness center, a photography and digital media center, environmental learning labs and technology workshops. The third-floor terrace will feature a green roof, and the bottom floor will feature a gift shop and café on the bottom floor as well as the Sweet Things Bakery. The project is seeking LEED-Gold certification. Completion is expected in mid-2012. The developer is The Dermot Company, and the project architect is Cutsogeorge Tooman & Allen Architects.