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Date: 9/20/2023
WILBRAHAM — The Senior Center at 240R Springfield St. is no longer a steel frame on a concrete slab, surrounded by dirt. Over the summer, P&P Construction has transformed it into a building that will soon house programs for Wilbraham’s senior community.
“Things are going well,” said Senior Center Building Committee Chair George Fontaine.
The windows are in, and the building is weather-tight. All the interior framing is done, and drywall will be hung over the next couple weeks. Fontaine said the mechanical systems are 90% finished. The spray insulation is underway. The basecoat paving for the driveway is complete and the sidewalks are “substantially complete,” he said.
A generator was added to the building. Fontaine said it is, “much more substantial than the one in your house.”
Friends of Wilbraham Seniors President Matt Villamaino agreed that there had been “great progress. We ordered all the furniture for the building last week.” In November 2022, amid a tight budget and contractors backing out of bids, the Friends agreed to fundraise to pay for the furniture and other finishing details of the building.
Villamaino said the Friends of Wilbraham Seniors is 93% of the way to its goal of $750,000. The organization continues to receive donations. He said hundreds of people have donated and the organization is “extremely thankful. It shows the residents are supporting the seniors.” It has been “very rewarding,” he said.
The project is “on budget,” Fontaine said. The roughly $13 million budget was a point of controversy among residents, who had originally approved $10 million for the project in 2021, before approving an additional $1.8 million in October 2022. Since then, Wilbraham has contributed money from its allocation of American Rescue Plan Act funding.
Fontaine does not anticipate any large issues or items at this point in the construction. He said significant issues usually occur in the first stages of a project and the Senior Center is past that point. Likewise, Villamaino said there had been “no major hiccups.”
The grand opening for the new center is expected in the spring.
“We are so excited for this grand opening. It’s been a long, long road — 12-plus years,” Villamaino said. Fontaine said of the Senior Center Building Committee, which is comprised of all seniors, “We’re all very anxious to open, none more so than Paula Dubord,” Wilbraham’s director of elder affairs. “I would like people to get excited about all the new things we’ll offer,” he added.
Pictures of the progress are available on the Wilbraham Senior Center’s Facebook page, tinyurl.com/8tfcrksa.