Hamilton County officials celebrated Friday the grand opening of the Harrison Center, a county-owned senior and community center.
“I hope that for a long time the community gathers here,” Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp said during a news conference. “We think there’s an opportunity for seniors and the young people of this part of the county to come together in a way that really builds community and strengthens the fabric of our community.”
The center, at the former Harrison Elementary site, is intended to be an anchor for the community, providing local groups space to gather and serve others. It will be open Friday and Saturday with plans to be fully accessible next month.
Wamp also announced the county’s plans to upgrade the youth baseball fields adjacent to the building using a combination of budgeted and hotel/motel funds. He intends for the fields to serve as a standard for what officials hope youth recreational facilities across the county will look like in future years.
(READ MORE: Seniors say ‘bittersweet’ goodbye to Eastgate Senior Center in Chattanooga)
The new center has an auditorium, recreation center, office space and meeting rooms. The county allocated $200,000 for renovating the facility in this year’s budget and has applied for a $1.4 million state grant. If awarded, the grant would allow officials to add a culinary lab, after-school program space and an exercise room, as well as upgrade the auditorium with audio-visual equipment.
“I’m just excited that we can offer this to everyone here,” Matt Folz, the county’s director of parks and recreation, said during the news conference. “Hopefully, this is the start of something that is great, not just for Harrison but for all of Hamilton County.”
The hope is the center will be used by community organizations on either a permanent or temporary basis, Wamp said. One of the building’s wings is the permanent home of the Forgotten Child Fund, a local nonprofit that provides toys and coats to children in need.
In a different corner of the building, the Harrison Recreation Youth Association has batting cages and a community room. Even when it’s raining outside, there’s always children who still want to play ball, Jeremy Lewis, the association’s president, said. The center gives them a place to do that.
“For us to have a space like this, it’s great for our children,” he said in an interview. “We’ve already had kids in here kind of looking at it and everything who were just like, ‘Wow.’ I mean this is just something that was strictly done for the kids.”
(READ MORE: Chattanooga seniors push city for a stand-alone center)
Wamp, who proposed the center’s creation during his State of the County address last March, said he wanted the center to be a space for the county’s youngest and oldest residents to get to know each other. Senior centers are something the county has been lacking, he added.
In November, the city of Chattanooga terminated its lease at Eastgate Town Center and moved senior programming temporarily to the Glenwood Community Center. The Eastgate Senior Center was the only city-run facility specifically identified as a senior center, although other city facilities also manage programs geared toward seniors.
Wamp said there have been conversations about the city and county partnering to provide spaces for seniors.
Patty Thompson, who worked as Harrison Elementary’s secretary for almost 20 years, said she was glad to see the building repurposed.
“It’s good to see folks again, you know, to come in and have our building available here in our community and not being torn down, taken away from the people,” she said in an interview. “I do hope that the community decides to come and utilize it, and I think they will.”
Contact Shannon Coan at scoan@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6396.