Boston's mayor, community leaders and several well-known local athletes are scheduled Monday to launch another fundraising effort to build a recreation center and skating rink near the Jackson Square T stop.
The kickoff event will be held at 2:30 p.m. at the Kelly Outdoor Rink at 1 Marbury Terrace.
Reports the Boston Globe:
Hockey great Mike Eruzione, soccer Olympian Kristine Lilly and New England Revolution player Chris Tierney will join Mayor Martin J. Walsh at the event for the recreation center, which would include an indoor ice rink and turf soccer field along with academic and social service space one block from the Jackson Square Orange Line stop.
The project has been in the works for nearly a decade and was approved by city officials in 2011. It was previously estimated to cost $16 million, but the price tag has since risen to $21.5 million. And finding the money to build it has been a challenge. Urban Edge, the nonprofit community development group behind the center, said it has cobbled together about $11 million in state and federal funds and private donations. But it still needs another $10 million.
About 26,000 young people live within 1.5 miles of the center’s Columbus Avenue site, according to Urban Edge.