Copyright Mechanicsburg Patriot News
The former Jewish Community Center has been sold at auction. The auction for the building at 3301 N. Front St., which is located in both Susquehanna Township and Harrisburg, began on Monday on Auctions by Ten-X on LoopNet.com and ended on Wednesday afternoon. For most of the auction, the bid price stood still at $400,000, but in the final minutes of the scheduled ending time at 3:30 p.m., the bidding price increased to $1 million, and that’s when the minimum selling price, which wasn’t previously publicized, was met. As more bids came in, the auction was extended past 3:30 p.m., finally ending at 3:55 p.m. The unofficial winning bid came in at $1.150 million. It’s unknown who the high bidder is or what the new owner’s plans are for the building. The building has been on the market for some time. The auction was initially scheduled for Sept. 15-17 but was postponed. The 69,212-square-foot former Jewish Community Center has an auditorium, a gymnasium, an indoor pool, a fitness facility, two racquetball courts, locker rooms, offices, classrooms, several meeting spaces, multipurpose rooms, and two commercial kitchens. At one time, there was also a bowling alley in the basement. The Jewish Community Center property, located at 3301 N. Front St., opened in 1956 and underwent renovations in the 1990s. It was also home to The Silver Academy, a Jewish day school. A smaller building at the Front Street property was previously home to Jewish Family Service and is not part of the auction. That building was sold. Most operations ceased at the Front Street building on Sept. 28, 2024, following a two-year move to the former Dixon Center at 2986 N. Second St. in Harrisburg. The Jewish Federation of Greater Harrisburg announced in 2022 that it had completed the purchase of the Dixon University Center from the state. The campus previously housed the headquarters for Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education. The former Dixon Center campus is now known as the Alexander Grass Campus for Jewish Life. It is home to the Jewish Federation of Greater Harrisburg, the Harrisburg JCC, the Brenner Family Early Learning Center, The Silver Academy, Jewish Family Service and the Jewish Community Foundation of Central Pennsylvania.
