The Boys & Girls Club of Franklin-Simpson is ready to begin construction on a facility expansion that should be complete this spring.

Jef Goodnight, the organization’s chief professional officer, said a groundbreaking for the expansion is set for 1:30 p.m. Tuesday. Construction is expected to begin in earnest in December and wrap up in March or April.

“We need it because we serve 170 kids a day and we utilize absolutely every space available every day,” he said.

The expansion would give teenagers a dedicated space away from younger children, something that for years has been identified as a need, Goodnight said.

“It’ll give us the ability to serve more teens and it’ll open that up and give us the ability to serve more kids,” he said.

The expansion will be called the Mason Goodnight Memorial Teen Center in honor of Jef Goodnight’s son, who died unexpectedly at age 10 in April.

In October, the Boys & Girls Club received the Women’s Fund of South Central Kentucky’s $100,000 Impact Grant to fund part of the expansion, which is expected to cost about $350,000, Goodnight said.

“The impact grant really put us over the top,” he said. “Like I said that night, it makes a huge impact. We won it and already we’re ready to go.”

The organization has received other donations that will make the construction possible, among them $50,000 from the Boys & Girls Club of America, $10,000 from Kentucky Downs and $20,000 from Mason Goodnight’s parents, he said.

Goodnight also said that at the groundbreaking, a six-figure donation will be presented to the Boys & Girls Club, though he declined to reveal the exact amount or who was making the donation.