Construction on a Converse senior community center should begin in April – mySA

A 1,200 square-foot patio and additional parking will replace a portion of the former Converse City Hall that will be demolished to create a senior community center. The project is expected to be finished in October.

A 1,200 square-foot patio and additional parking will replace a portion of the former Converse City Hall that will be demolished to create a senior community center. The project is expected to be finished in

Photo: Courtesy Illustration /

A 1,200 square-foot patio and additional parking will replace a portion of the former Converse City Hall that will be demolished to create a senior community center. The project is expected to be finished in October.

A 1,200 square-foot patio and additional parking will replace a portion of the former Converse City Hall that will be demolished to create a senior community center. The project is expected to be finished in

Construction on a Converse senior community center should begin in April

Construction on a senior community center in Converse should begin in late April and take 4-5 months to complete, according to a timeline discussed with city council last week.

The former Converse City Hall at 403 S. Seguin Road has sat empty since a new facility opened in January 2019 across the street, next to the citys justice center.

Foundation issues rendered a portion of the old structure uninhabitable, with as much as a six-inch differentiation from front to back and side to side. That part of the building will be demolished so the rest of the building can be refurbished to offer meeting and multi-purpose rooms for senior activities and events.

Porter Dillard, of Dillard Architect Group PLLC, took city council through a Powerpoint that showed illustrations of the finished structure, as well as a site plan and floor plan of the building.

The current building occupies 9,960 square feet on the 1.23-acre site, Dillard said. It formerly housed city council chambers, city administration offices and, at one time, the citys police department.

The new site will result in a 6,490 square-foot building. Within that, were going to create two large multi-purpose rooms that can be used for events and programs, he told council at the Jan. 7 meeting.

The former city council chambers will be Phase I of the project and offer 2,760 square feet of meeting space. A second meeting and multi-purpose room will be developed later in Phase 2 and add 3,400 of additional space.

Young said the facility will feature a catering kitchen, improved lighting, and an updated interior color scheme. Parking will increase to 91 spaces, on all four sides.

An addition will be a 1,200 square-foot outdoor patio plaza on the north side that will be enclosed with a wrought iron fence for an outdoor activity space associated with the senior center. A portion of the patio will be under a pergola cover, he said.

Assistant City Manager Manny Quintanilla said the budget for phase I of the project is $234,000, with 80 percent ($180,000) coming from a Bexar County CDBG grant. The remainder ($54,000) will be the city match. Well also be using in-kind services from public works, to put in the parking lot and other such features, Quintanilla added.

New sidewalks will surround the building and eliminate the current front-and-back existence, creating a balanced flow from parking to the building entrances.

City Engineer Leonard Young said Phase I of the project will focus primarily on the city council chamber room and redoing the bathrooms to make them fully ADA complaint, which is going to take completely gutting the existing bathrooms and putting in brand new ones.

Mayor Al Suarez said the city is working with the Greater Randolph Area Services Program (GRASP) in Converse so as not to duplicate services it already offers to seniors.

We already have a plan to work with them to make sure we dont duplicate service, Suarez said. They have been informed and are as excited about this as we are.

City Manager Le Ann Piatt said the center will have a calendar of activities, offering a place for seniors to go, to get them out of the house.

We want to offer a wide variety of activities, Piatt said. Youll have movie days, youll have Bunco day, yoga classes, and games and activities.

The new senior community center will allow residents in that portion of the city an opportunity to gather with similar seniors - something they cannot do without transportation to GRASPs facility on Donalan Drive, about 1.5 miles away.

Piatt said they will make the space available for veterans services, such as help with benefits and doing taxes, given the citys large military and retiree population.

Young said bids will be advertised for 30 days prior to an opening and council action on rewarding a bid late in April. Youngs timeline showed construction stretching from April 30 to a tentative finish on Oct. 5.

jflinn@express-news.net

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Construction on a Converse senior community center should begin in April - mySA