This article originally appeared in The Queens Chronicle
More than three years ago, dignitaries, civic leaders and even some South Queens residents gathered under a tarp in the lot next to what was then known as the South Queens Boys & Girls Club at 110-04 Atlantic Ave. in Richmond Hill to put shovels in the ground. On that chilly rainy April day, they promised to be back in several years to welcome the first children into a bigger, better club.
On Tuesday, three years, four months and a name change since the first brick was laid, and in noticeably different weather conditions, the job was done — for the most part.
Inside the expansive new gym — still without finished floors however — a cavalcade that included many of the same officials, civic leaders and residents who were there in 2011, and some new ones, were present to see the finished product.