CLINTON - It will have the look and feel of a new facility, but many facets of the Clinton American Legion Crang-Bennett Post 103 will be recycled.

The building, at 219 N. Elizabeth St., should open by Jan. 1 and about 85 percent of the work has been finished. The building will have a full kitchen, a small administrative office, two large bathrooms, a social room and a large banquet room that can be used for weddings, birthdays, parties and family gatherings.

"We've got a lot of volunteers helping out and we have been lucky enough to locate some materials from buildings being torn down that were still usable," construction manager Tom Redington said.

The legion bought an 80 by-125-foot steel-framed building from the Clinton School District for $1. Then, just before the district started demolition on the former junior high building, Legion members found other items that were still usable.

"We found several doors and other usable items which keep our costs down and are still in very good condition," said Bob Adcock, a volunteer helping with the project.

An energy-efficient geothermal heating and cooling system will be installed thanks, in part, to a $10,000 grant from Exelon Corp., which runs a Clinton-based nuclear power plant.

"This helped make our new building energy efficient and our community a little more 'green,'" said Post 103 Commander Ron DeVore. "It seems like every time we start getting low on funds and begin wondering how we are going to continue with this project, someone steps up in a big way. We are grateful to Exelon for their donation."

Exelon communications manager Bruce Paulson said the donation recognizes the efforts of Post 103 for working hard to find ways to reduce energy consumption.

"It is one thing to construct a building from all new materials, but it takes a lot of effort and work to find recycled materials and then make them fit into your plan," Paulson said.