There was a distinct air of a changing of the guard during Monday’s groundbreaking ceremony for the crowning components of the Centre City project — a Marriott Springhill Suites hotel and tiered parking garage.

After years of planning, unanswered questions, delays and false starts, the 76-suite hotel and 230-space parking garage are scheduled for completion in late 2016. Fencing around the work site started going up nearly as soon as the groundbreaking ceremony ended.

One of Centre City’s driving forces, Redevelopment Authority Executive Director Art Cordwell, announced his retirement Sept. 30. The $12 million construction, when completed, will be his crowning achievement — and the authority will be a 25-percent share owner of the property to be overseen by a yet-to-be-appointed Cordwell successor.

John Chiprean, chairman of the Butler Parking Authority, also touched on the theme of change while paying brief homage to his late grandfather, also named John Chiprean, who chaired the parking authority in the 1950s.

Then, as now, the objective of the parking authority and related organizations remains clear and unwavering.

“A group of businessmen set out to improve the downtown and the community,” Chiprean said. “With no staff and little funds they were able to purchase some properties, and so began the parking program that we have today, making Butler the envy of other cities of its class.”

A community is more than the sum of its parts. Its young people inherit the dreams, values, ethics and aspirations of their elders.

Under ideal conditions, the best of these aspirations outlive us because we achieve them; they benefit successive generations and provide fresh platforms for a new generation’s dreams.

That’s why city officials and developers gathered on Monday to celebrate the long-anticipated garage and hotel project. They see its potential as a catalyst for economic and cultural growth and tourism.

“It’s a new day and a new era in Butler,” said Mayor Tom Donaldson. “We’re planting the seeds ... to start the ‘good old days’ for young people in Butler.”

In the Bible’s Old Testament, King David envisioned and planned the glorious temple to be built in Jerusalem. David gathered the best materials available for its construction. But it fell to his son, Solomon, to actually built it.

Likewise, leaders come and go in every community. It’s their spirit of leadership that endures. Successive generations build on the foundations of previous leaders.

It could be that the leader of Butler’s next great project or movement has not even arrived here yet. But when he or she does arrive, there will be a spacious new accommodation waiting.