Construction continues on the Cohen SoundWaters Harbor Center at Boccuzzi Park in Stamford, Conn. ib Monday, Aug. 22, 2022. The new facility is designed to support SoundWaters' Young Mariners, Harbor Corps, and College Skills programs with a research lab, a job skills training workshop, classrooms for academic and sail training, and a safe waterfront with year-round access to Long Island Sound.

STAMFORD — The staff at SoundWaters had hoped to open a new $8 million center this summer, but due to construction delays, the new marine education center will likely swing open its doors in late fall.

Supply chain issues are to blame for the delays, said Leigh Shemitz, president of SoundWaters, the Stamford-based nonprofit organization that focuses on protecting Long Island Sound through advocacy and education,

In particular, the elevator for the new building took longer than expected to acquire and deliver to the site. The project managers experienced delays in getting electricity to the building, and the elevator vendor they were using wouldn’t set up an order until the power was on, Shemitz said.

“Each delay builds on the other one,” she said.

But the delivery date is now set, and the elevator should be installed in September.

The rest of the building is complete, she said, and an array of solar panels have been fully installed.

“We’re at a really good place, save for the elevator,” Shemitz said.

The building, a new state-of-the-art harbor education hub called the Cohen SoundWaters Harbor Center, is one piece of a larger project meant to create public access to Stamford Harbor and the Sound.

As part of the larger project, the access road to the property will be replaced by one that lines up with Congress Street and will extend to the new center, where a parking lot will be built. Near the water, a crumbling parking lot and old chain-linked fence will be switched out for sand dunes and a small beach area with new wetland tree plantings.

Once complete, the revamped park and waterfront will create a rare access point to the Sound for residents of the Waterside neighborhood.

Once the elevator is installed, the building should qualify for a certificate of occupancy and could technically open. But construction of a new adjacent parking lot, a city project, has yet to begin.

The work on the lot will begin in two to three weeks, with a completion date in about December, according to Domenic Tramontozzi, senior construction manager for the city. While that lot under construction, the existing lot near the Sound will be available for parking.

Once the new 12,000-square-foot center opens, SoundWaters will be able to expand its offerings.

The center will house three programs: Young Mariners, which teaches young students life skills through sailing; Harbor Corps, which offers maritime job skills training for young adults; and Research Intensive, a college-level marine research program for high school students. The center will also include launch access for SoundWaters’ fleet of sailboats, and publicly available kayaks and paddleboards.

The organization also has a location at the historic Holly House on Cove Island, which will remain after the new center officially opens.

For more information on SoundWaters, visit soundwaters.org.

Ignacio Laguarda is a reporter who covers education and more for the Stamford Advocate.