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May 6, 2021UXBRIDGE – A ceremonial ground-breaking for the Grace Rett Athletic Complex and Education (GRACE) Center was held Thursday outside St. Mary Parish’s center.
The GRACE Center is to be built behind Our Lady of the Valley Regional School across the driveway, and is to be used for the school and parish. The building to be constructed is named for an OLV graduate who was died from a motor vehicle accident while on a training trip in 2020 with the Holy Cross Women’s rowing team, one day after her 20th birthday. The project is to fulfill her longtime dream for her elementary and middle school to have its own indoor athletic space.
The 7,500 square foot GRACE Center will feature a high school sized basketball court; 75 bleacher seats; two indoor classrooms; green space for outdoor classes; a welcoming foyer; bathrooms; storage space; and concession area. It will be used for OLV physical education and classroom learning, chorus and band instruction, extracurricular activities and athletics, science fairs, St. Mary’s Parish events, and more.
The groundbreaking comes less than six months after “GRACE to the Finish,” a marathon fund-raising effort that lasted last 62 hours, zero minutes, and three seconds (62:00:03) from Dec. 19 at 8 a.m. through Dec. 21 at 10:03 p.m. The successful event paid tribute to the one-year anniversary of Grace’s world record setting consecutive indoor row and was matched dollar for dollar by an anonymous $1 million donor.
The $3.8 million project is 80% funded, but donations are still being accepted to close the final gaps. The project is being designed by Rubicon Builders & Austin Architects and is scheduled to open in January 2022.
