LCCPS Executive Director Nick Leonardos addresses the audience.

Lowell – A crowd of nearly 100-people gathered downtown on a sweltering August day for a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the Lowell Community Charter Public School’s new athletic and performing arts center.

City officials, elected representatives and assorted community leaders joined LCCPS teachers and administrators to celebrate the occasion and learn more about the planned space in the Mill No. 5 complex donated to the school last year by the Lichoulas family. The school’s original plans called for a new facility across Middlesex street, but the generous gift shifted the focus inward, and plans were re-drawn to create space inside the mill complex. The new space is expected to open in the Fall of 2027.

LCCPS Executive Director, Nicholas Leonardos, and Chief Operating Officer, Robert Gignac, thanked everyone involved for their support and outlined how the expansion will better serve learning and the student experience. Gignac served as Master of Ceremonies for the event.

Driving the point home, Sima Suon recounted the story of breaking her hand while running into a support pole during a softball practice in the space currently serving as the gym. Suon, a school alum, now serves as President of the Learn to Lead Foundation.

Lowell Mayor Danny Rourke and City Manager Tom Golden spoke of the important place LCCPS holds in the city’s educational community, as did 17th Middlesex State Representative Vanna Howard, whose district includes the downtown. 16th Middlesex State Representative Tara Hong was also in attendance and dug in a shovel for the ceremonial groundbreaking.