New Community Center To Open In Allston

A former Catholic school in Boston that abruptly closed six years ago is poised to reopen as a community center.

The Presentation School in Allston-Brighton grabbed headlines after the Archdiocese locked the school doors in 2005. The school was one of many closed as the church struggled to pay off settlements from the clergy sex abuse crisis. Since then, it's been a six-year struggle to buy the building, develop a plan and find the funds.

Presentation School Foundation board member Kevin Caragee called the groundbreaking "exhilarating."

"There's a tremendous sense here of accomplishment that we rescued and regained and now restored a community anchor," he said.

The community center is slated to open in September. It will include day care, after-school programs and a health center.