[StBernard] Community Center of St. Bernard will vacate current building; seeking new long-term home

[Westley Annis]

Community Center of St. Bernard will vacate current building; seeking new
long-term home
Published: Friday, September 03, 2010, 5:52 PM     Updated: Friday,
September 03, 2010, 5:55 PM
 The Times-Picayune 
 
The Community Center of St. Bernard will move out of its main building in
Arabi by Oct. 1 and is seeking a new location, center officials said.

The center agreed to move out of the building at 1107 LeBeau St. during
court proceedings Friday in St. Bernard Parish stemming from the building
owner's efforts to terminate the center's $1-per-year lease, center attorney
Skylar Rosenbloom said.

The Andrew Jackson Lodge No. 428 had begun eviction proceedings; the center
thought it was entitled to another one-year lease extension, court records
show. District Judge Kirk Vaughn, who was hearing the matter Friday,
"facilitated'' the agreement between the sides, Rosenbloom said.

Rosenbloom, the center and the lodge will try to come to an agreement over
the $105,000 in materials and volunteer work the center put into renovating
the building.

Andrew Gregorian, the attorney representing the lodge, could not be reached
for comment Friday.

The center, which provides community services ranging from a food pantry to
financial training, will continue to operate out of its smaller annex next
door, but might have to curtail some of its service, executive director Iray
Nabatoff said Friday.

"We're losing our primary location, but we're not going out of business. The
center is not closing,'' Nabatoff said.

Nabatoff said the center is trying to raise $500,000 to buy and move into a
vacant shopping center nearby on St. Claude Avenue. He said the Community
Center would then embark on a program to improve the site over time as
additional funding becomes available.