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Plans for new senior center in Scituate move into design phase (2)
July 11th, 2018
SCITUATE - Plans for a new Scituate senior center continue to move forward as selectmen voted to award a contract for architectural services to the Boston-based firm Bargmann Hendrie +Archetype for $724,900 Tuesday night.
Town Administrator Jim Boudreau met with representatives of the architectural firm to go over what the town wants them to look at, he said.
The former Gates Intermediate School was chosen as the site of the new senior center.
Selectmen approved tearing down the B wing of the former school, which is the main central building facing First Parish Road that was built in 1916. The C wing, to the right of the main building, would also be torn down. This would leave the A wing, housing the Veterans Memorial Gym, which would be renovated to become handicapped accessible and a small section occupied by the Recreation Department.
“We wanted to make sure they looked at some of the B wing to see if they could save some of the façade,” Boudreau said. “I’m excited. I think they have a real grasp for what we’re looking for. Everyone seems to be on board that these are the architects going forward.”
Any possible use for the wing and any costs will be determined early on, hopefully by the end of summer, he added.
“We’ve given them all the old plans and studies we’ve done; all the documents we have relative to that building.”
Once the designs are completed, it is hoped the town will be able to present something at annual Town Meeting in 2019.
The new senior center is a $9 to $10 million project.
Voters at town meeting in April approved allocating $983,650 from free cash for the design, engineering and bid documents for the project.
Gordon Price, vice chairman of the Scituate Council on Aging Board of Directors, feels the project will be successful at spring 2019 town meeting.
“However, we do need to gage the emotional and financial support of the people,” he said. “Without having something on paper is pretty difficult. A rendering coming out in the fall would be a big help.”
Once the renderings are completed and have been reviewed by the selectmen, Selectmen Chairman John Danehey said there would be a visual to advocate for.
Price also pointed out a lot of senior centers are now incorporating veterans’ services, and that there could be federal funding available for that.
Late in 2017, the Public Building Commission decided on hiring Vertex as the owner’s project manager (OMP). The town has worked with the Weymouth-based company before – they handed similar responsibilities for the building of the Scituate Public Safety Complex.
“I think we have a good OPM on this project,” Boudreau said. “They’re aware of what we want to do.”
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