This senior center is looking young!
Oldsters celebrated the end of a months-long renovation at the Park Slope Center for Successful Aging on Monday, a makeover that one member applauded for transforming the once dreary facility into a hospitable and welcoming space.
“It looks really great,” said 67-year-old Irene Moy, who lives in Park Slope. “It looked very institutional before they renovated it, but now it’s more warm and inviting. It feels fresh.”
Social-services provider Heights and Hills took over the center on Seventh Street between Sixth and Seventh avenues from a city-contracted management board in 2015, and its staff of do-gooders found peeling paint, holes in the wall, and lumps protruding from the linoleum floor of the space where tai chi and other classes are held upon moving in, according to the operating group’s head honcho.
“It was in very bad shape,” said Judy Willig, Heights and Hills’ executive director.
Officials from the social-services provider also operate the facility under a contract with the Department for the Aging, and the agency required the center to remain open during its three-month renovation, forcing honchos to suspend movement classes and educational workshops in order to adopt a four-day-a-week schedule, according to Willig, who said the staff continued to serve the center’s signature $1.25 lunches on days it was open.
Refurbishments include new walls, a fresh coat of paint, and vinyl flooring without any bumps that the senior jitterbugs might stumble on, Willig said.
“We’re always looking to prevent falls,” she said.
