(HOLYOKE, Mass.) (WGGB)– Construction is well underway on a project that’s designed to transform downtown Holyoke.

They finished off the first phase of Holyoke’s 168-million dollar High Performance Computing Center on Tuesday with a topping off ceremony.

Topping off is a term used by iron workers to indicate that the final piece of steel is being hoisted into place on a building, bridge , or other large structure.

In this case, the 18-foot, 800-pound beam was put on the high performance computer center.

It was a day that brought Governor Patrick and a long list of state and local dignitaries to town.

They took part in the ceremony and signed the last beam before it was hoisted into place.

Governor Patrick says its impact will be huge,” This is going to be one of the most powerful high performance computing centers in the country,” says Patrick.

When completed, the computing center will feature computers with high speed and capacity to process large amounts of data.

That data could be used for a number of purposes like Biomedical Research.

It is a facility that incoming Mayor Alex Morse says has great potential to attract other businesses to the area,” I’m looking forward to capitalizing on this project, making sure we’re using this as a catalyst to bring other technology based firms and companies to the city of Holyoke.

The current Mayor of Holyoke Elaine Pluta says the economic impact of such a computing center will be a game changer for downtown Holyoke,” It will be a big economic boost, we need the jobs, we need the revenue, we need the taxes, everything will be a big plus for our city,” says Pluta.

Now that phase one is complete, work turns to finishing the job.

The new computing center is expected to be completed by late next year. A number of academic institutions are partnering on this project, they include UMass, Harvard University, M.I.T., Boston University and Northeastern University.

600 construction jobs are expected to be  created as well as 130 acadenic  research jobs according to a release from Governor Patrick’s office.