Springfield JCC reopens facilities damaged in 2022 fire

SPRINGFIELD, MA (WGGB/WSHM) - Springfield’s Jewish Community Center celebrated its grand reopening on Sunday.

The event came more than two years after an electric fire tore through the building in November 2022.                

New features in the building include a fitness center, fitness studio with weekly classes, aquatics center with a six-lane indoor pool, and new locker rooms for men, women, and families, including private changing rooms with showers.               

Karen Jarmoc, the center’s new CEO, said everyone is welcome at the JCC. “Our message today is that everyone belongs here at the Springfield JCC. A percentage of our membership are people who are Jewish, there’s also our welcoming of all faiths. We have over a thousand members. We’re hoping to double that by the end of this year and we have a wonderful pool. The swimming team, swimming lessons, personal fitness, health and wellness classes and then our after-school programming and early learning program for kids under five, so there really is something here for everyone and we’re just so excited to be sharing our facility with the public,” she explained.

Jarmoc added that renovations are being planned for a brand-new technology center community room, as well as new pickleball courts.