Newly purchased sports center to accommodate seniors

Sometimes it’s better for the whole to be less than the sum of its parts — at least in terms of cost.

The Orange County Board of Commissioners voted June 23 to purchase the Triangle SportsPlex in Hillsborough for $6 million from Boston-based Eaton Vance Distributors Inc.

Part of the facility will be turned into the Central Orange Senior Center.

“It’s an excellent opportunity for us to run two really top-notch facilities for less by having them under one roof,” said Rod Visser, assistant county manager.

A combined sports and senior center would require $235,000 less in annual costs than two separate facilities, according to a report to commissioners by county staff.

Eaton Vance will place $300,000 in a reserve account to cover any repairs that might be required for the nine-year-old building, bringing the net cost to the county to about $5.6 million.

Visser said it was likely state regulators would approve the loan the county needs for the purchase.

“The senior community is very excited,” said Janice Tyler, senior centers administrator in the county Department on Aging. “There are lots of seniors interested in swimming and the fitness area.”

The SportsPlex houses several swimming pools, an ice rink and a gym within its 82,000 square feet.

Most of the building will remain a recreation facility for the public, but several thousand square feet of underutilized space will be given to the senior center. Coupled with a new addition to be built, the center will cover 15,000 square feet.

That’s more than twice the size of the senior center’s current home, directly behind the SportsPlex — which Tyler said is 6,000 square feet.

About 75 to 100 people use the existing center on any given day, Tyler said.

She said seniors had spoken up at several public forums about their need for more space to accommodate general programs and classes.

The SportsPlex purchase is part of the county’s plan to expand existing senior centers in Hillsborough and Chapel Hill. The county voted on a bond referendum in 2001 allocating $2 million for each.

The bigger facilities will serve the county’s constantly rising senior population.

The N.C. State Data Center estimates that about 12.2 percent of the county’s 2004 population, or about 14,700 people, are 60 years and older.

That number is expected to double during the next decade, Tyler said, due to both in-migration and the aging of the baby boomers.

Plans for the new Chapel Hill Senior Center were discussed by the Chapel Hill Town Council on Monday. The center, which will replace the existing center on Elliot Road, will occupy 25,000 square feet off Homestead Road.

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.