Holton School, a 70-year-old building on the verge of abandonment, if not collapse, just a few years ago, officially opened a new chapter of its service to this community this week.

The building by 2005 was in sad shape, and Durham Public Schools wanted to sell it or even give it away. Omega Curtis Parker, a school board member who used to substitute teach at the school, recalled conditions so poor she hated going into the building.

But Tuesday, Parker and other officials with the schools, the city and the county were showing off a completely different place.

A $17 million, 14-month renovation has transformed it into the Holton Career and Resource Center. The building will house a vocational public high school, a city recreation center and a Duke-sponsored health clinic when it opens to the public Tuesday.

Initially, Durham Public Schools will offer vocational courses including business, landscape management, computers and electrician skills. Eventually, officials expect Durham Technical Community College to offer evening programs.

The clinic, underwritten by Duke University Health Systems and operated by Lincoln Community Health Center, will treat low-income patients, often at no charge.

The Durham Parks and Recreation Department will operate a recreation center in the building, too.

Beyond the specific programs, valuable though they are, perhaps the renovated building's greatest contribution is to the ongoing effort to revitalize North-East Central Durham. "I think you can feel currents of change that are occurring in this community," Mayor Bill Bell said at Tuesday's ribbon-cutting at the center.

At times, the Holton School project seemed to be moving with excruciating slowness, especially to some community members anxiously awaiting its boost to those "currents of change." But with the gleaming facility now ready to begin operation, it seems well worth the wait which, in retrospect, probably felt longer than it really was.

School board chairwoman Minnie Forte-Brown praised the cooperation among so many groups and institutions to plan and undertake the renovation. "What happens in Durham does not happen in other communities," Forte-Brown said. "I am extremely thankful for it, and I think you should be proud."

Indeed, we are.