By the end of 1966, Jewish Community Centers and YM-YWHAs affiliated with the National Jewish Welfare Board will have built 107 new buildings since World War II at a cost of approximately $102,000,000, the JWB reported today.
Based on current and contemplated community studies, the report predicted that the construction of new Center and YM-YWHA buildings will continue unabated through 1975. It estimated that from 1966 through 1975, at least $77,500,000 will be invested in the construction of 66 new JCC and YM-YWHA buildings and major additions, exclusive of the cost of land, equipment, architectural fees and related expenses.
“During 1966 alone, eight new JCC and YM-YWHA buildings will be completed at a total cost of $9,085,000,” the report said. “The growth in new Center and YM-YWHA construction is particularly striking with the recognition of the fact that the combined original investment in facilities which have not yet been replaced was $18,000,000. Thus by the end of 1966, properties of Jewish Community Centers and YM-YWHAs, exclusive of resident camp sites and country day camp sites, will represent a capital investment of $120,000,000 — four times the investment before the start of the new Center construction boom.”
The projection, according to the JWB, is that by 1975, “practically all Centers will either have moved into new buildings or will have added extensively to previously existing facilities. The total investment in all of these projects will be in the neighborhood of $190,000,000. Thus, in a span of slightly more than a quarter century, investment in Jewish Community Center buildings will have multiplied nearly seven-fold.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.