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After decades with no rec center, New London is finally building one at the historic Fort Trumbull site

The project is being funded by $2 million in federal funds and $7 million in state funds.

NEW LONDON, Conn. — The City of New London is celebrating a project that is more than a decade in the making. They are working on building a brand new, state-of-the-art community recreation center, located at the historic Fort Trumbull site off of Smith St.

"The saying in New London is, 'It's happening,' and this is part of the reason why it's happening," said Mayor Mike Passero of New London at a press conference on Tuesday, where he was joined by local, state, and federal leaders.

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The project is being funded by $2 million in federal funds and $7 million in state funds. Passero said it's been a dream of the city's for a long time, but the funding was what was holding them back. Now that they've secured that, it's full steam ahead. 

"This is probably the greatest professional project of my career," said Felix Reyes, Director of Economic Development for the city of New London.

Reyes was born and raised about a mile from the site of the new center. He said has been the number one thing people have been missing out on, and have been begging for.

"It's life-saving. it's life-changing, these families have really for generations wanted something for our kids to do when it's not warm out," Reyes said.

When all is said and done, the project will be a 58,000-square-foot facility with an eight-lane swimming pool, basketball courts, rooms for community events and early childhood education, workout facilities, and more.

"The honor to be able to be here, to see this happening," said Council President, Reona Dyess at the announcement. 

Dyess has been involved in the project since its inception. She said she got a seat at the table to make changes like this happen.

"This is for the community. This is for the community. So I'm excited," Dyess said.

The community has been without a rec center since the 80's. Related to that, Reyes said 10% of all kids in New London don't know how to swim. He hopes the center changes that. 

"They're doing less and less and they're less and less active, so I'm hoping that this recreation center really becomes that place where kids can be kids," Reyes said.

The center is still a construction site at this point. Right now, restoration and cleaning efforts are happening at the site to get rid of pollutants that have been sitting there for decades. But soon, the building process will begin.

"It will become the heart and soul of our city," Mayor Passero said.

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