By Staff Writer
The City of Deerfield Beach recently celebrated the grand opening of the Braithwaite Center for Active Aging, formerly known as the Deerfield Beach Center for Active Aging. The event featured free food, speeches, a ribbon-cutting ceremony, tours of the 22,000-square-foot center, and a standing-room-only crowd.
The Braithwaite Center has been providing a welcoming environment for senior citizens and Alzheimer’s patients for several months. The long-awaited ceremony showcased a beautiful and functional building steeped in local history. Notably, in 1929, the Broward County School Board built a three-room elementary school for Black students on this site at Northwest 1st Avenue and Northwest 2nd Street.
The center offers a wide range of activities for seniors aged 55 and older. Also under construction on the same campus is the Bezos Academy, a nearly 5,000-square-foot preschool funded by tech billionaire Jeff Bezos. This $1.9 million project will provide free tuition for 40 students and offer year-round, all-day care in a Montessori-style setting. The preschool, originally slated to open early this year, will admit students through a lottery system, with applications available on the Bezos Academy website. The previous preschool associated with NE Focal Point (the former name for the city’s senior center) closed in 2021 due to COVID-19, having been a community staple for many years.
The senior center’s completion is part of a series of city building projects. Shiff Construction has been awarded a $2.3 million contract to remodel city hall, including storm drainage and parking lot improvements, an exterior facelift, remodeling of the commission chambers and first-floor lobby, a new fire alarm system, and fortifying the roof, doors, and windows.
Two other public facility improvements have also been completed. The West Community Center at 520 S. Powerline Road underwent a $843,700 renovation and will open next week. Additionally, the $1.3 million playground at Central Crystal Heights Park, located at 1333 S.W. 24 Terrace, will officially open on the same day at 4 p.m.
Nearing completion is the $11 million rebuild of the Johnny Tigner Recreation Center in Oveta McKeithen Park. The new two-story, 21,000-square-foot building will feature banquet space and recreational activities.
At the ribbon-cutting ceremony held on Saturday, May 11th, at 9 a.m. at the Braithwaite Center, community members were invited to explore the facility with guided tours. Convenient parking and shuttle service were provided.
Tensions arose at a recent city meeting when commissioners debated various issues. After heated exchanges between Commissioner Moss and Commissioner Perkins, Mayor Rex Hardin called for a ten-minute recess to restore order. Post-recess, Perkins expressed a desire to work collaboratively for the city’s betterment.
