The first phase of a three-phase project at the Hardin Street Community Center is complete.

The city held an open house on Thursday to show off the new kitchen and event area.

“This is not the only part we are going to be doing,” Mayor John Bartholomew said. “This is going to be an ongoing project. This building has been ignored for some time. It’s like a diamond in the rough.”

The center is located in Opp’s District 4, but Bartholomew said he wants it to serve as a community center for all of Opp, just like the Brantley Street Adult Activity Center.

District 4 Councilwoman Mary Brundidge agreed.

“I hope everyone will use it around town,” she said. “It’s a city building and it needs using.”

Brundidge said the building is the former Opp Elementary, where students attended before coming to Andalusia to attend school.

“We went here until they started integrating,” she said. “Then Head Start was here for 30-something years.”

The next phase for the project is new bathrooms, followed by updating the classrooms.

Brundidge said there are plans for a historical museum and she’s looking for memorabilia.

Bartholomew said the cost for phase one was $40,000.

Additionally, the city used grant funds to do some landscaping in front of the building.