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Lower Eastside Girls Club Headquarters Takes Shape

By Patrick Hedlund | April 6, 2011 6:28pm | Updated on April 7, 2011 8:15am

By Patrick Hedlund

DNAinfo News Editor

EAST VILLAGE — Less than six months after the Lower Eastside Girls Club broke ground on its new Avenue D headquarters, the state-of-the-art community center is starting to take shape.

A recent tour of the forthcoming space led by Dave Pentecost, husband of Girls Club founder Lyn Pentecost, revealed the progress construction crews have made on the project while working through the winter.

When completed in late 2012, the sprawling structure will feature 30,000 square feet of space dedicated exclusively to the Girls Club, as well as a 12-story building featuring 78 rental units and ground-floor retail space between East 7th and 8th streets.

Some of the features of the new headquarters include a planetarium, library, multimedia center, dance and yoga studios, laboratory space, kitchen/bakery, and an environmentally friendly green roof. The 15-year-old club, whose membership is currently at full capacity, will be able to serve three times as many girls when the center is finished.

Pentecost himself is working as project manager for the center's technological elements, including the 30-foot-high planetarium that will become the club's centerpiece.

"It should have been my idea, but like many things, it was my wife's idea," he joked, noting that he spent 25 years working in television production and editing.

When finished, the planetarium/theater space will feature a domed roof with ascending stadium-style seating, and have the capability of hosting everything from science lessons to live performances.

A room adjacent to the planetarium — which Pentecost called the "geekiest workstation ever" — will allow Girls Club members to create and preview their own multimedia programming under the watchful eye of accomplished stage producer Lori Seid.

Works crews are busy preparing to lay the foundation for the main site after driving pilings deep into the ground, but the pace of construction should pick up as the weather continues to warm, Pentecost said.

"We're in the toughest part right now," he acknowledged of the work required to stabilize the lot, including removing water from the ground.

But standard steps like these during the construction process have also provided learning opportunities for club members, Pentecost explained.

The club discovered after a required archaeological analysis of the site that the area used to house shipbuilding operations in the 1830s, including the manufacture of "ironclads" used in the Civil War.

They also learned that two teenage girls used to live on the property, so the club plans to research their lives and ultimately make a presentation in the completed planetarium as a way to "tell the story of the neighborhood," he added.

The Girls Club has already received grants from various local and national organizations, and is now asking for funding from both the National Science Foundation and NASA to help the club expand programming at the center.

"It's to give the kids in the neighborhood a bigger picture of what's possible," Pentecost said.

Work crews are still removing water from the site to stabilize the ground before laying the foundation.
Work crews are still removing water from the site to stabilize the ground before laying the foundation.
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DNAinfo/Patrick Hedlund