Grand opening

The Centre of Change has official opened its doors.

More than a couple hundred people walked the hallways of the former Hillcrest High School on Saturday. The Thunder Bay Centre for Change took ownership of the school in July and from there the about 30 businesses and non-profit organizations from restaurants to a Mixed Martial Arts style gym filled the empty classrooms and spaces.

Renovations caused a month delay for the original grand opening of the building in the summer.

The Centre’s general manager, Sandi Boucher said she was glad the day final came where they could open the building up to the public.

“It’s absolutely amazing,” Boucher said. “I was really hoping that the city would once again prove that they were behind the project and they blew it out of the water again. Today is a realization of a dream. When I first saw this building I thought this can’t come down.”

Much of the feedback from visitors was positive with many saying that they were glad that the old building was saved, she said.

Given the success of the opening, Boucher said she hasn’t ruled out the idea of more than one Centre of Change in the city and welcomed others to copy what she has done and apply it to other vacant schools.

“I would love if there were Centres of Change,” she said. “It’s why we put Thunder Bay in the title. We wanted to be one of many. The one thing about this project is that it isn’t about competition. It’s about working together.”

Tony Sinclair didn’t know about the school’s transformation into the centre but said he was pleased with what he saw and particularly liked the market place.

“It’s nice to see them doing something with the high school,” Sinclair said. “It’s good to see that they are putting a use to it. We have a high school in our hometown of Manitouwadge, Ont. that’s being demolished. Our high school has been abandoned for 10 plus years and they have done absolutely nothing with it. We all wanted something done with it but I guess it wasn’t feasible.”

David Farrell gave the build’s transformation high praise and said he was glad that they were using a historical building by giving small businesses in town a chance to do business a different way.

“I think this is fabulous,” Farrell said. “You can get food here you can get dancing and music. It’s a marvel of a centre.”