As published in Building Together, Fall 2008

Building For The Future

Greg Rapp, PJC Building Committee Chair

The PJC Building Committee is making exciting progress as we prepare to unveil the final design of our new JCC! Many members of the community have been working for well over a year developing what is called “the program” for the building. The program describes in detail all the things we want the building to offer for the community. This has been an intense, ongoing joint effort with our project architect, Richard Gurlitz.

The Building Committee is made up of multiple representatives, both professionals and community members, from the partner agencies that will be sharing this space: the Federation, JCC, JFS, Jewish Community Foundation, and the Lerner School. Each agency has worked to develop a careful understanding of its space needs, and together we have translated those needs into an actual building. This has been a challenging process as we strive to address constituencies ranging from young children to seniors and everyone in between.

We feel proud that we’ve designed more than just a building. It is truly a home – a place where everyone can gather and engage in a wide range of activities, where we can exercise, socialize, learn, connect and simply feel comfort among our friends. This home will also be a showplace for the Jewish community, where we can host local and regional events and share our unique culture with our neighbors. It will be a place of great pride for us all.

We are currently in the construction phase of another PJC building: the Lerner School’s new preschool wing, also designed by Gurlitz Architects. This phase involves the building of several new preschool classrooms, resource rooms, a parent lounge, and offices to meet the growing needs of the Lerner School, which has been bursting at the seams. Construction is moving along right on schedule with a project completion date in early November.

Our community is growing at an incredible pace, and it’s great to see how everyone is getting on board to help build for the needs of today and tomorrow. This is an exciting time to live here in Durham and Chapel Hill, and the future just keeps getting brighter.

 

 

As published in Building Together, Fall 2008