AUBURN — Not two minutes after the ribbon was cut at the city’s new Police Athletic League Center on Friday afternoon, a group of children were banging away on an air hockey table.

Around a corner, in the gymnasium, several older children were running up and down the basketball court, shooting for the hoops.

In another room on another side of the building, kids were huddled at tables with their parents, engaged in bouts of checkers and whatever other games they found there.

The new PAL Center, $9 million and many years in the making, was officially open for business at 24 Chestnut St.

“We’re super excited,” said Samantha Connorton, her three children in tow. “This is going to improve the neighborhood so much.”

That’s the idea, really. As U.S. Sen. Susan Collins and several other speakers pointed out at the opening ceremony, the point here is that it’s “better to build youth than to mend adults.”

“What a great day this is,” the senator said, “for the city of Auburn and for its teens and children.”

Barry Sheff, vice president of Woodard & Curran, the architectural firm that designed the center, said the PAL Center is more than just a fancy new building.

“It’s a place that represents hope, opportunity and the power of community,” he said. “It’s a promise to Auburn’s youth and their families. It’s an investment in them.”

Sheff said that from the beginning, he and his team felt compelled to work with city leaders on plans for the new center, because of what it offered to the community.

“The future is really about planting seeds,” he said, “and the opportunity for people to grow to their fullest potential.”

The new building was erected to replace the much smaller PAL center that sat on the site since 2013. After police analyzed youth crime statistics, they deduced that providing more educational and athletic activities for kids would help alleviate problems in that area.

The new PAL Center, which is about five times larger than the original, will continue to serve as a drop-in center for after-school youth activities and mentoring. With nearly 14,000 square feet of designed space, the center includes a dedicated teen space, full-size basketball court, meeting and storage rooms, multipurpose areas, bathrooms and showers.

With a commercial kitchen and a new outdoor playground in the works, planners say the new building is an improvement on the old center, which had proven to be a solid remedy for problems of youth crime in the neighborhood.

“For 12 years, the PAL Center has served at-risk children in the heart of our city,” Auburn City Manager Phil Crowell said. “And the positive impact has been profound. With the opening of this incredible new facility, the PAL Center will continue to serve, support and inspire Auburn’s kids and families for generations to come.”

Kevin Smith, who has lived on Chestnut Street for decades, watched the opening ceremonies with guarded optimism.

“I think this will help,” he said. “It will give the kids more things to do, anyway.”

Well over 100 people turned out to see the new center open.

“This will be life changing for all these kids,” said Rita P. Beaudry, grant manager for the project. “We have a true campus here and that is by design.”

Beaudry, like other speakers, gave Sen. Collins a great deal of credit for seeing the project to fruition. Collins helped by delivering $3 million in federal aid that planners say helped unlock more money for the project.

Collins has said one reason she’s been so supportive of the project is that she heard years ago from Maine police chiefs that the most likely time of the week for young people to get into trouble was after school.

Providing a place for the children to go to engage with police officers and other kids, she said, just made sense.

“The children receive mentoring; they play games, get nutritious food, warm clothes and needed school supplies,” Collins said. “And I have to say, it’s particularly wonderful to see them build these warm relationships with the police officers who are here.

“I think that’s so important as well. When I toured the previous center in January of 2023, I saw how the vision of the Auburn Police Department and city leaders has been building brighter futures for the youngsters in this community.”

Auburn Mayor Jeffrey D. Harmon gave much of the credit for the new building to former Mayor Jason Levesque, who had worked diligently on the project before leaving office.

When all the speeches were through and all the proper people were thanked, it was time to open the new PAL Center. That was done officially when Mayor Harmon and Sen. Collins teamed up on a pair of comically oversized scissors and cut a bright red ribbon in front of the doors.

Moments later, a throng of kids and their parents rushed through those doors and within bare moments, the sounds of recreation — of fun and games — echoed through the vast new space.

“This is incredible,” said Connorton, watching her kids, 11, 6 and 3 years old, get down to business. “Me and my kids are very enthused. We’ve waited a while for this.”