Sailing is about to get more popular in Vero Beach, thanks to the impressive new sailing center that has sprung up in the past few months south of the 17th Street bridge, on the mainland shore of the lagoon.

Built by a visionary group at Youth Sailing Foundation, the 10,000-square-foot Pat Harris Community Sailing Center will be surrounded by a marine recreation park, with pavilions, walkways, boat ramps and docks.

"Our budget for the building, pier, pavilions, boat ramps, playground and property is $6.4 million, and it is fully funded," says project manager Stu Keiller, who also serves as interim executive director of the foundation. "The park is open to the public."

The new building and the park are intended to pull the public into the Foundation's mission of using sailing to enrich the lives of children, while also expanding the sport in Vero Beach and creating new revenue streams via corporate retreats and other activities.

Still months from completion, the highly visible project is already stirring up interest.

"We are feeling the impact," says Keiller. "Wherever I go in town, people mention it. We have never had the kind of demand for our summer camp that we had this year.

"We have 50 people in our adult program now, and we think we can quickly ramp that up to 200. Adults who join can rent boats from us, with the money going to support the kids program.

"We use five Flying Scots for adult sailing. All were custom built for YSF by a family firm in western Maryland. It is a young fleet; the oldest boat is 5 years old. They are 19-foot sloops – main sail and jib, with roller furling for easy control. The boats have a large cockpit that comfortably accommodates four adults. The boats are known for their easy sailing qualities, dry cockpit and beautiful lines. They are good light-air boats. Adults learn in the boat they will rent once they learn to sail or go through a check-out process if they are already accomplished sailors."

Famed architect and urban planner Andre Duany had a hand in the sailing center's picture-perfect, British West Indies design. Built like an airy fortress, with a foundation that goes down to marl and coquina, the concrete block, metal-roofed building will be highly functional and versatile, as well as beautiful.

The ground level will include the entrance and foyer, an office for sailing instructors and onshore instructional space, a 4,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art boat repair and boat building shop, boat storage space, and large restrooms with showers that will be available to the public.

On the second level, which can be reached via a staircase or elevator from the foyer, a receptionist office, the executive director's office, a caterer's kitchen, classroom space, and upgraded, "club level" bathrooms will surround a vast main hall with 12-foot walls and a steeply vaulted wooden ceiling.

The sound system, communication and data hookups, and lighting all will be cutting edge.

"We have a dozen speakers spread around here," says Keiller.

"I have never seen anything like this lighting system," says Proctor Construction job superintendent Kelly Pipkin. "It is future state-of-the-art LED lighting with everything on dimmers so it can be adjusted for different events."

The building's roof is topped by a cupola with windows that will be LED lit and "look like a lighthouse when you are coming over the bridge at night," Pipkin says.

The central space has views of the Indian River Lagoon and opens onto a 12-foot-wide, east-facing veranda and expansive southeast patio that expands the building's event capacity and provides a place for sailors to relax and take in the watery panorama – which on most days will include white-sailed boats riding the wind and sparkling water.

"The view is spectacular," says Keiller. "You can actually see the tops of the condo towers down in Fort Pierce from up there."

The fast-moving project is right on schedule, according to both Keiller and Pipkin.

"We broke ground in December, and the building will be complete by Nov. 10," says Keiller. "Our grand opening is scheduled for Dec. 11, at 11 a.m."

Big construction projects tend to have elastic timeframes, often taking longer than expected, but Pipkin is as confident as Keiller that his team will meet the November deadline.

He keeps the job on track with a weekly "Project Look Ahead" document that lists recent progress and details which subcontractors will be on site and what they will be doing in upcoming days.

A sense of excitement and accomplishment that pervades the site helps maintain momentum, too.

"I've been on construction sites since I got out of college in 2007, and this is my favorite project," says Pipkin. "It is by far the best job site I have ever had."

The positive vibe and rapid progress weren't diminished and may have been enhanced by sharing the site with rotating bands of busy grade-school sailing students for most of the summer.

"We were able to conduct our eight-week sailing camp – which was our largest ever – while major construction was going on all around," Keiller. "Both our sailors and the construction crews did a great job working around each other. One could see hard hats turning to watch the 12-year-olds rig, launch, and sail their boats. Fun times for all!"

Commercial construction projects often are mundane, but at the Youth Sailing site, workers have been able to get a sense of the magic of what they are making.

Founded in 2009, the nonprofit Youth Sailing Foundation has grown to have 80 sailboats and 10 powerboats serving 350 young sailors annually with classes and camps, including many repeat students who go on to instructor certification. With a staff of eight and 30-plus volunteers, the Foundation prides itself on teaching children from across the demographic spectrum, including homeless children, handicapped children and lots of kids from Gifford, as well as students from the island.

"We truly are a community sailing organization," Keiller says. "We have a need-blind registration policy. No child is denied the joys of sailing."

Besides teaching more children to sail, which parents and teachers say increases their self-esteem and confidence as well as providing excellent mental and physical exercise, Keiller plans to expand the Foundation's reach and revenue by leveraging the new sailing center and marine park to attract local and out-of-area events and organizations.

"We have a lot of contacts through our board members with sailing organizations up north, and we are going to invite them down for spring training. The rowing club already does that, and it will be another revenue source to support our children's programs.

"We also plan to go after corporate retreats. I come out of the ski industry, and Vale and Aspen have huge businesses with corporate retreats. They meet in the morning and ski in the afternoon.

"We think groups will want to come down to our beautiful facility, and to this beautiful city, to meet in the morning and sail in the afternoon. We will have excellent audio/visual capability, with wireless mics, projectors and flat screens. It's going to be a state-of-the-art conference center that we think will attract corporate events.

"And those folks pay. They stay at the top hotels and eat at nice restaurants in town, which will provide an economic boost for Vero Beach."

Keiller also expects weddings, birthday parties and charity events to utilize the new building and landscaped grounds. Who wouldn't rather go to a wedding or charity soiree where you can wander out onto a breezy terrace with a drink and see for miles up and down the river?

"The building is going to give us a lot of momentum," he says.

That momentum is likely to keep building over the next three months, as the sailing center and park are finished in the run-up to the grand opening in December.

"The building will be transformed in the next several weeks," Pipkin says. "We're going to have the roof and stucco on, and then the paint by the end of August. The whole façade will really come together with the colors of the materials. It will look completely different and really stand out" to the tens of thousands of people who cross the 17th Street bridge daily, not to mention all the boaters passing by on the river.