On Jan. 22, the final steel beam was placed atop the new Jewish Senior Services building on the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg campus at 4200 Park Ave. in Bridgeport.

The “topping-out ceremony,” a centuries-old builders’ rite in which the highest and final wooden or steel beam is hoisted to complete the top of the building’s frame, marked the structural completion for the new $75 million, 372,000-square-foot facility, set to open in spring 2016 on the site of the former Jewish Center for Community Services.

Before being lifted into place, the final beam was taken to the current Jewish Home for the Elderly in Fairfield, where it was signed by hundreds of residents, staff-members, and construction-team members. As part of the topping-out ceremony, the construction team also brought an American flag and a tree to the top of the building – symbols of pride and the building’s coming to life.

CAP: Signing the last steel beam for the new Jewish Senior Services building (l to r): Michelle Lyons, Bridgeport City Council member; Andrea Gottschall, UJA/Federation of Eastern Fairfield County board member; Karen Ferleger, UJA/Federation of Eastern Fairfield County board member and Jewish Senior Services board member. Photo credit: Regina Madwed, Capitol PhotoInteractive.