BERLIN – A topping off ceremony will mark a milestone in the construction of the new Berlin Activities Depot on Old Ocean City Boulevard.
On Saturday, Carmella Solito of Twisters will host a topping off ceremony at the soon-to-be location of her new facility, the Berlin Activities Depot. A topping off ceremony typically marks the placement of the last beam during construction.
Solito says Saturday’s ceremony will give her former students the chance to help her celebrate the new facility by signing that last beam.
“A lot of kids and families in the community have been waiting for this,” she said. “I wanted to give them an opportunity to come back and put their handprint on the building.”
Aside from the 300 families she currently serves through Twisters and Carmella’s Kids on Route 113 in Berlin, Solito says there are countless other children who have been through her program in the 16 years she’s been operating. She’s hoping to see many of them stop by the Berlin Activities Depot location for Saturday’s 1 p.m. ceremony.
“It’s a memoir for them,” she said. “They’ve made it happen. A lot of the girls are going to try to make it back.”
The activity center, which she expects to open in April 2017, will be able to serve as many as 1,000 families. The facility will offer before- and after- school care, gymnastics, karate, soccer, indoor zip lines, laser tag and a carpeted skating rink among other things. Solito described it as a state-of-the-art facility that in addition to its amenities, would feature extensive security and paperless technology. She indicated previously the facility would double the size of her current staff.
“We’ve already started hiring,” Solito said. “We’re really excited.”
She said that once the facility was complete she would be hosting other homecomings and celebratory events to give her former gymnasts the chance to come back to Berlin. She even has plans to do a time capsule.
“It’ll hopefully live on for other generations,” she said.
Solito says construction, which began in August, has been going smoothly and she’s looking forward to the project’s completion. She said she and her staff had been talking about building a bigger facility for the past 14 years.
“It’s a big step,” she said.
Solito first presented plans for the 33,000-square-foot facility to town officials in 2011. Though the project hit some roadblocks along the way, progress resumed in 2015.
For more information on Saturday’s ceremony, or to RSVP, contact Twisters at 410-629-0878 or 410-629-1630.
