The City of San Antonio broke ground on the District 9 Senior Center on Friday, a project funded by the 2017 bond that is expected to open in May 2022.
With no existing community centers in District 9, Councilman John Courage (D9) said many of his older constituents have been traveling to nearby districts to utilize their senior centers.
“We’re the only part of the city that didn’t have a senior center,” Courage said. “A lot of our seniors have been going to the senior center in District 10 off of Thousand Oaks, but if you live in Stone Oak, that’s a long way to go.”
Voters approved the $14.6 million center as a part of the $850 million 2017 bond, the largest in San Antonio’s history. The center, which Courage has also called a “multi-generational community center” because he would like programming to be for various ages, was originally set to break ground last November, but construction was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic, he said.
“A lot of things got pushed back due to the pandemic,” he said. “A lot of projects were delayed a month or two due to that, including this project, but we are on schedule [for May of 2022 now] and on budget.”
The 26,300-square-foot project is located west of West Avenue and south of Walker Ranch Park at 840 W. Rhapsody Drive.
Services and amenities will include a reception desk and lobby, several multi-purpose rooms, classrooms, meeting rooms, a computer training room, and a computer café.
“We’re getting ready to build the best senior center in San Antonio,” Courage said during the groundbreaking, which was livestreamed on Facebook.
Other city officials at the event included Director and City Engineer of the Public Works Department Razi Hosseini, Mayor Ron Nirenberg, and Senior Center Advisory Committee Chairman Dyan Montesclaros.
“I think we can all agree it’s about time that District 9 had a senior center,” Nirenberg said. “So I’m very much looking forward to this project coming out of the ground.”
