[0:00] Today, we break ground on a new chapter in the City of Bloomington. [0:05] This is a big day for the City of Bloomington. [0:07] As we break ground on the new community health and wellness center. [0:13] It is the biggest project I think, in the city's history [0:16] in terms of investment, in terms of community involvement and engagement, [0:20] in terms of what it means for the future of this community. [0:23] We feel really excited about that, just given what we hope it represents [0:26] and bringing everyone together, having multiple generations [0:30] have something to do and enjoy within the facility. [0:33] We are really thinking [0:34] about community members and how they can gather in this space. [0:37] I think the most exciting part about it is it truly will be a center of community. [0:43] It will be a place activity and fitness, meeting rooms, [0:46] a place to sit and have a cup of coffee. [0:49] A place that people will reference. [0:50] They will say, yeah, [0:51] we'll just meet you at the community health and wellness center, [0:53] and everybody will know what you're talking about in the City of Bloomington. [0:56] As our city continues to grow, [0:58] We are invested in community amenities that bring people together, [1:03] enhance quality of life, and cultivate [1:06] an enduring and remarkable community where people want to be. [1:10] So I'm really excited about, from our public health standpoint, [1:13] is to have the amazing space, for our clients in the community to be in. [1:19] We're in a building right now that is just really challenging, [1:23] oftentimes, with serving our clients and doing the things [1:25] we want to do in the community. Having this incredible space [1:29] dedicated to health and wellness is just an incredible opportunity. [1:32] To partner with Parks and Rec and do public health. [1:34] Back in November of 2023, voters approved a citywide referendum authorizing a half percent [1:40] local option sales tax to fund $155 million in bonds [1:44] for our Bloomington Forward projects. [1:46] the community health and wellness center project is the largest of the three [1:49] projects, at $101.8 million. [1:52] We, in the end of August, achieved 100% design development. [1:56] So from there, we're kind of locked in [2:00] to everything except the furniture fixtures, things like that. [2:03] So we've finalized and refink ed the design and now we'll move on to [2:06] construction documents. [2:08] After that, we'll be ready to build the facility. [2:10] So we're really excited to get this project going, and [2:14] we can't wait to see kind of the progress over the next couple of years. [2:18] If you have any questions, feel free to visit the Bloomington Forward website. [2:22] It's bloomingtonforward.org