It's the end of one era, and the beginning of another.
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After 36 years of operation, the Boys & Girls Club of Lancaster will close its Steinman Clubhouse on Dauphin Street this week.
But the clubhouse will open in a new location nearby in September, allowing it to triple the amount of kids it serves in the city's southeastern neighborhood.
"We're not leaving the area," the Boys & Girls Club's chief executive officer, David Tinkis, said today. "We're making a change in which we're going to be able to serve more kids."
The Boys & Girls Club plans to move the clubhouse to King Elementary School at 600 Rockland St., just north of the current site.
Until then, kids who attended the Steinman Clubhouse may attend summer programs at other city clubhouses, at 116 S. Water St. and at 231 W. Lemon St.
Each clubhouse offers a game room, a gym, a computer lab, art room and education room. During the school year, it offers after-school activities that feature hot meals and programs that encourage goal setting, self-esteem and responsibility.
The Steinman Clubhouse serves about 80 to 90 kids daily. Over the summer, those kids can be absorbed at the other city clubhouses, or will attend the club's summer camp.
In fact, the club is being shut down this week, because that's when many kids began the club's six-week summer camp program at Camp Hogan, outside of Millersville, Tinkis said.
The School District of Lancaster is considering purchasing the building as part of a districtwide building upgrade plan.
The board would have to approve that, in a vote that will take place by the end of the summer, said the district's business manager, Matt Przywara.
The district is considering several options for the building, should it decide to purchase it. Those would include using the building for: the Buehrle Alternative School (moving it from Clay Street); additional pre-kindergarten classes; or additional special-education classes.
District officials estimate the cost of renovating and acquiring the building at $2 million. It would be contingent on state and federal funding, Przywara said.
The Boys & Girls Club is selling the building for a number of reasons, Tinkis said.
The facility is aging and requires extensive renovations, he said.
Also, the sale of the building and the move to King allows the club to adopt a "community school model."
Under that model, after-school programs and other club activities are offered at schools, which become "a hub for all things happening for different neighborhoods," Tinkis said.
Although it will no longer own the clubhouse, the club also could offer some programs in the building if the school district buys it, Tinkis said.
Staff writer Cindy Stauffer can be reached at cstauffer@LNPnews.com or 481-6024.
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