This summer while the town vacationed, the Permanent Building Committee was hard at work continuing its quest to bring a design and estimate to the Fall Town Meeting for an alternative property to serve as the town’s senior center. At its Aug. 10 meeting, the committee voted unanimously to recommend the town purchase or lease the building at 16 Lancaster County Road for that purpose, and a week earlier at its Aug. 3 meeting, it voted to choose DiGiorgio Associates (DAI), a LiRo Group Company, as the architectural firm to design the renovation of the former medical offices. DAI was the firm that designed the proposed addition to the town’s current senior center, Hildreth House, in 2019, which was voted down by Town Meeting in 2020.
Only two property owners responded to the town’s request for proposals to purchase or lease a building suitable for a senior center. One was the owner of 16 Lancaster County Road, who responded with both a purchase and a lease proposal, and the other was the owner of Friendly Crossways at 247 Littleton County Road, who responded only with a purchase proposal. Committee members agreed that the Friendly Crossways property was too large—both the building and the grounds—and the maintenance expenses plus utility costs would not justify buying a property that was larger than the town needed. The size of the Lancaster County Road property is a better fit for the senior center’s needs.
At a meeting on Aug. 18, the committee voted to approve DAI’s contract so design work could begin. Design and preliminary estimates are scheduled to be complete by the end of September, in time for Town Meeting in October. Chair Cindy Russo asked Assistant Town Administrator Marie Sobalvarro to notify the Select Board that it should make a formal decision to either lease or purchase the building so negotiations with the owner could continue. Sobalvarro told the Press the topic will be on the Select Board’s Aug. 31 agenda.
The next step is for the committee to confirm the programming needed for the building, which it plans to do at its next meeting, scheduled for Aug. 30. Meanwhile, committee member Pablo Carbonell and Nashoba Associated Boards of Health Sanitarian Ira Grossman are gathering information on the building’s septic and water systems to determine if they will be adequate to serve a senior center.
