A new home for the IBA in the South End seems to be well on its way toward consolidating almost all of the group’s many community programs from across the neighborhood under one roof.

The Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción (IBA), a South End community organization dating back 50 years, held an official public meeting on Jan. 9 to discuss its effort to establish its new community center on Newton Street.

The project garnered seemingly universal praise from the public, apparently a rare real estate slam dunk in Boston’s sociologically and architecturally complicated cityscape.

The IBA has been working to establish a community center at the now-demolished 85 West Newton St. since November 2021. The organization’s leadership reports that it has held nine meetings with residents since then, to say nothing of collaboration with other civic groups and regulators.

This most recent event was the second public meeting mandated by the city’s review process for the project and ended early, with attendees apparently satisfied with the IBA’s current blueprints and schedule.

“I’m seeing overwhelming support in both the chat and the questions we’ve gotten in person thus far. That’s an amazing sign,” said Tyler Ross, the project manager for the Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA). “I don’t want to be too quick on the draw but this may be my fastest public meeting. That’s a win.”

If everything continues smoothly, the building could be open in a couple of years. The IBA leadership hopes to get approval from the BPDA board and then the landmark district commission in March, aiming to finish planning over the summer. If ground is broken next fall as planned, and the construction period takes a projected 18-20 months, the community center’s doors could open in the spring of 2025.

As plans stand now, the building would be four stories and 60 feet tall with 26,000 square feet of space. It would be well under the 70-foot zoning maximum of surrounding buildings. The center is being built at the same time that the adjacent O’Day Park and its playground are being renovated, and planners are closely coordinating with the Boston Parks Department to make sure the two projects compliment each other. The next public meeting for the park’s renovation will likely happen in early March.

“This space is the consolidation of [almost] all IBA’s programs under one roof, which will allow us to not only expand our programming but expand collaboration between programs, better serving our community and residents,” said IBA CEO Vanessa Calderon-Rosado. “We’ll have community services, youth programming, technology programming, resident services all within that hub.”

The IBA will also host its administrative and property management staff in the new building, as well as education facilities for youths. The only program not relocating would be the IBA’s early-education program.

“I’m floored, positively, by the results you’ve presented tonight. I’ve seen a few iterations and it’s terrific,” said Nicola Truppin, a neighbor involved in the Friends of O’Day Park.