Former Penacook Community Center comes tumbling down

Demolition of the former Penacook Community Center on Community Drive began Tuesday to make way for a new Boys and Girls Club center and library branch.

The project calls for the demolition of two additional buildings – residential homes used as childcare facilities – to construct an 8,900-square-foot, multicolored single-story building that will serve 46 toddlers and preschoolers during the day and 45 children in an after school setting. 

Part of the property, which was previously owned by the Boys and Girls Club of Central New Hampshire, was sold to the city in December for $1.3 million to house the library, and areas for meeting space and public use, while the rest will be used by the Boys and Girls Club as a daycare center. 

Additionally, the city will sell 3 Merrimack Street, which has been the Penacook library branch for the last 75 years, while ensuring its historic preservation as part of the sale, and a vacant lot intersecting Sanders and Merrimack streets will be sold and used for parking. 

The Merrimack Street property was assessed for $330,900 and includes a deed restriction to ensure that the historic building is preserved. Renovations were estimated to be around $900,000 which, even if repaired, would still have limitations on parking and publice space. 

Construction is expected to be complete in the late spring or early summer of 2024. 

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