By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Among the dignitaries and shiny shovels at the Wood County Senior Center groundbreaking Friday were the people who will use the center on a daily basis.
Rita Eckert will meet friends for cribbage and movies. And Barbara Miller will join her for yoga and “get fit” classes.
They are looking forward to a space that is more – well spacious – both in the building and in the parking lot.
Larry Powell and Dorothy Roe will gather for lunch and gabbing. The food is good – but the conversation is even better, Roe said.
“It’s mostly for visiting with people,” she said. “They call our table the ‘happy table.’”
Perhaps a little too happy at times. “They toned us down,” Roe said with a grin. “But it keeps us going.”
But Roe, 94, has one concern.
“They need to hurry up, so I can see it,” she said.
The new building, at 140 S. Grove St., is expected to be open to seniors next fall. It will be built not only for today’s seniors but for generations to come, said Clint Corpe, master of ceremonies.
The large tent set up for the groundbreaking was not big enough for all the dignitaries and senior citizens who wanted to celebrate the occasion.
“This will have a huge impact on the county,” said Wood County Health Commissioner Ben Batey, who is the president of the Wood County Committee on Aging.
“Today is a day for celebration and appreciation,” Batey said. “This building is so needed.”
The existing senior center, located at 305 N. Main St., is in a building constructed in 1914 as a post office.
“It was not built to be a senior center,” he said. It was renovated in 1981, but still had the problems of retrofitting such an old building for today’s uses.
“We need to make this a state of the art facility for seniors,” Batey said, noting the growing demands from the aging population that is expected to double by 2050. “We have to plan for the future and not be short-sighted in this.”
The new building will be more than twice the size of the current senior center, with more space for programs, an adult day care area, and 82 parking spaces.
The new 35,000-square-foot senior center will be located at the site of the former school administration building between South Grove and Buttonwood streets, south of West Wooster Street.
The first floor of the senior center will have two main entrances covered for weather protection. There will be a dining and multi-purpose room, five activity rooms of varying size, public restrooms, skylights to let in natural light, and an elevator.
The first floor will also have a lounge area that may double as a library, with a gas fireplace, and coffee.
Also on the first floor will be an adult day care space, with its own entry. The Alzheimer’s Resource Center in Toledo has offered to provide the day care services. Currently, local residents needing adult day care services have to travel to Toledo or Findlay.
There will be outdoor patios off the multi-purpose room and off the adult day care.
The second floor will have room for administration offices, social services, activity rooms and office space for the BGSU Optimum Aging Institute, which will be teaming up with the senior center at the site.
“We are ready to start digging,” said Mike Duket, owner of the architectural and planning firm that designed the new building. After several public meetings, Duket said the plans were able to accommodate 90 percent of the citizen requests.
“The only thing we were unable to get was the Olympic size swimming pool,” Duket joked.
Unlike the current senior center, this one has been designed with seniors in mind.
“We’ve designed a user-friendly, accessible, energy-efficient building,” Duket said.
The project got off the ground a couple years ago with $1.6 million in state funding, secured by then State Sen. Randy Gardner and then State Rep. Theresa Gavarone, both R-Bowling Green.
A capital campaign is underway to raise the rest of the money needed, Batey said. Of the $1.2 million goal, so far $650,000 has been raised.
Gardner, now the state’s chancellor of higher education, praised the teamwork on the project, referring to it as “another example of what Wood County has done great.”
State legislators don’t fight for capital projects for programs that aren’t respected, Gardner said, calling the Wood County Committee on Aging a great quality and service-oriented program.
Gavarone, now a state senator, said the $1.6 million in state funding was the largest capital project ever to be awarded to Wood County.
“This place is so special,” she said, noting it will not only provide services for seniors but will also provide training for the next generation of gerontologists.
Current State Rep. Haraz Ghanbari, R-Perrysburg, said he had seen first hand the importance of senior centers as he visited satellite sites across the county. People count on the centers for providing hot meals and socialization.
The new senior center will work closely with Bowling Green State University’s gerontology program.
“We are honored to be a part of this,” BGSU President Rodney Rogers said. “This demonstrates the role of what a public university should be doing.”
Wood County Commissioner Doris Herringshaw praised the partnerships that allowed Friday’s groundbreaking to occur.
“Wow, what a great day,” she said. “It’s all about partnerships,” which in Wood County are part of the normal way of doing business, she added.
Many of the dignitaries presented proclamations to Denise Niese, executive director of the Wood County Committee on Aging and Batey.
When it came to Bowling Green Mayor Dick Edward’s turn to speak, he mentioned the city’s contribution of the acreage for the new senior center.
“I don’t have any proclamation. We just provided dirt,” he said.
The city purchased the former school administration building site in 2010 for $1, then recently gave it to the committee on aging for the facility. The purchase was a “good investment,” the mayor said.
“This is a great location,” Edwards said, pointing out the neighboring Wooster Green and downtown.
Mark Cassin, from State Bank, also noted he had no proclamation, but that his institution would be providing financing for the site. “It’s important to be a community partner,” he said.
