BATH

Nearly eight months after the Bath Youth Meetinghouse and Skatepark closed its doors at the old YMCA building, a new, 8,000-square-foot facility will open Wednesday afternoon in the former armory building.

On Monday, as staff arranged plush, new — donated — couches into place and filled dispensers with Mike and Ikes, M&Ms and Reese’s Pieces, teens whose skateboards have hung idle on the wall all summer prepared to hit the rails.

“If this had been open all summer, I would have been here every day, all day, instead of riding bikes around town,” 14- year-old Brett Bowman of Topsham said Monday, standing amid the ramps that would not be ready for his bike until later that afternoon.

When the old skatepark and teen center closed — on Dec. 7, 2011, the teens remem- ber exactly — they were left without a place to hang out, or to skate.

“The cops always yell at me for skating,” Evan Millett, 15, of Bath, said.

“Technically, you’re not supposed to be skating anywhere downtown,” explained 14-year-old Zach Cox of Bath.

But even with their skateboards on the wall, kids still seek a place to ride.

“Yesterday I got yelled at for biking at Brackett’s (Market),” Cox said. “Some old guy told me you could hit somebody, but the cop said I could be there.”

So as the ramps have been rebuilt from parts disassembled from the old park — by former professional skateboarder Toebee Parkhurst, a member of the Friends of the Bath Youth Meetinghouse and Skatepark — teens poked their heads in the doors to watch the progress, eagerly awaiting Wednesday’s opening, teen center director Cassandra Brown said.

“I see the kids downtown and they’re walking around looking for things to do,” Brown said. “They’re excited to see somebody they can talk to. Not a day goes by in here that somebody isn’t here asking, ‘When can we get in?’”

But it’s not just the skatepark that the kids look forward to. Prior to leading a tour of the ramps, a group of teens relaxed in the teen center space, on couches donated by Ron Norton and Sweet Dreams. A circular bar fashioned by former City Councilor Jamie Omo, old Applebee’s chairs salvaged from a surplus store and a pool table complete the club-like atmosphere. Today, new computers with Wi-Fi will be installed — donated by Adams Computer.

“This far exceeds what we’ve hoped for,” Steve Balboni, director of Bath’s Parks and Recreation, said Monday.

But Cassandra said the center won’t be complete until the teens “put their touch on it.”

“It’s controlled chaos,” she said of the atmosphere, which she so eagerly awaits. “Controlled chaos is the name of the game around here.”

bbrogan@timesrecord.com