Chicopee’s new RiverMills Center opens to the community

Date: 10/3/2014

CHICOPEE – The much-anticipated River Mills Center opened to the public on Sept. 25 and senior citizens who attend the senior center quickly made the new building their home.

In one activity room, there was a group playing mahjong, while in another several tables were filled with people working on jigsaw puzzles. Open more room was filled with people playing bridge.
   
City Councilor William Zaskey and James Tillotson were among the guests the first day and both expressed they were impressed with what they saw.
   
Sandra Lapollo, executive director of the Council on Aging, was busy showing people how to check in by using a touch-screen computer screen.
   
“This is a fulfillment of a 35 year-old dream, she said. “The council on Aging is very please to open RiverMills Center. It is a wonderful building that was designed specifically for older adults. We look forward to introducing our current participants and welcoming new older adults to the center and the expanded programming that will now take place.”
   
The $8.2 million building is twice the size of the former senior center and is on the site of the former Facemate building.
   
In a tour around the garden or lower level of the center, Lapollo pointed out two heavy industrial doors that were hung as artwork, both from the original Facemate building. In the pool room, there are chestnut columns decorating the walls that were also found in the original building.
   
The center has two entrances and parking areas. One on the top floor and one on the lower floor adjacent to a large parking area.
   
The lower level has a revamped and up-dated store and a new mini-kitchen for the sale of snacks.  At one end of the Garden Room, a large multi-purpose room that can be divided. She said that any event with more than 35 people would be conducted there. A kitchen area is off of the room for catering purposes.
   
A library area, several activity rooms, and the pool room are all on the lower level. Lapollo noted the pool table was brought from the former center but was refurbished.
   
Upstairs, there are offices, an art room, and rooms for fitness and exercise areas.
   
Not all of the rooms are fully furnished and Lapollo noted that furniture has been ordered.
   
According to Lapollo, there are 12,161 residents in the city who are age 60 or older and the new center will be able to serve 400 to 600 adults daily, twice the capacity of the former center.