It's been just over one year since Stamford's Lathon Wider was forced to close, but it is now slowly on its way back.

On Jan. 2, 2025, city officials say they found out that a mechanical system failure had led to more than 3 feet of water flooding the basement, forcing the building's tenants, which included doctors, dentists, immigration services, a library and a day care to all find temporary homes.

"It's been extremely tough," admitted Anna Witkowski, the director of Children's Learning Centers of Fairfield County, the day care in the building.

According to Witkowski, since so many families walk to day care, even though they were able to find a temporary location, their enrollment numbers have fallen dramatically.

The city says that insurance covered 95% of the $1.25 million needed for repairs, and that the timeline was based on getting all the new equipment, including three new boilers, delivered and installed.

In the meantime, officials decided to take a look at the building, which is more than 70 years old, and give it some other repairs, including new energy efficient LED lights, carpeting, repaving the parking lot and adding a fresh coat of paint.

"The classrooms have never looked better," said Witkowski, "they're in pristine condition."

At the same time, an advisory group, made up of community members, local representatives and city officials was also formed, to try to re-evaluate what the best use of the space would be going forward.

"Out of that came a central theme around public safety, education services and day care," said Matthew Quinones, the director of operations for the city of Stamford.

The DMV that had been in the building has now been permanently moved to the government center, but within the last month, the medical clinic, immigration services center, and CLC have all moved back in, and reopened their doors.

"When we were told we could come back in, we were literally jumping up and down for joy," said Witkowski.

Over the next few weeks, other community services and nonprofits, including the Community Action Network and Stamford Public Education Foundation are also scheduled to join them.

By the end of the month, the Ferguson Library's South End Brand is expected to reopen as well, with plans to eventually take over the area on the floor above it, which will make it more than twice as big as it used to be.

"In hindsight, it's almost a blessing in disguise that we got the opportunity to really get in here, make these improvements, and we're excited to bring this whole new chapter for this community center," said Quinones.

The city has future plans to set up both police and EMS substations in the building, as well as knocking down some walls to bring back what had been an old gym.