HOT SPRINGS -- The public-private partnership working to reconstitute the Hot Springs Senior Center is looking for a new location after justices of the peace didn't recommend the Hobson Avenue address the county proposed.
None of the seven justices of the peace on the Garland County Quorum Court Public Works and Buildings/Environmental Committee would second a motion Monday night to forward the purchase of 126 Hobson Ave. to the full Quorum Court.
The city's been without a senior center since CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs left the old Hot Springs National Guard Armory at 210 Woodbine St.
The hospital said the state of disrepair at the county-owned building led to its 2018 departure. It had operated the senior center there since 1991 and has said it would resume overseeing the program when the county finds a suitable location. The hospital operates the McAuley Senior Center and runs a meal delivery service for senior citizens out of the Arkansas 7 North location.
The Quorum Court's Finance Committee advanced a $500,000 appropriation for purchase of 126 Hobson Ave. at its Aug. 7 meeting, but it was removed from the agenda of the Aug. 14 Quorum Court meeting at the request of Justice of the Peace Jimmy Young, R-District 4.
He asked that the location be discussed at Monday's committee meeting before the full Quorum Court considered giving the county authority to purchase the almost 7,800-square-foot accounting office. Seniors who spoke Monday at the Mahoney Building cited safety issues posed by the city of Hot Springs' pending acquisition of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, 109 Hobson Ave.
The Hot Springs Board of Directors adopted a resolution approving the $750,000 purchase at its July 5 business meeting. The city plans to convert the property into a community resource center.
"Who knows if the facility will ever get started across the street," County Judge Darryl Mahoney said. "I understand the concerns about safety. I think anywhere you locate in the city of Hot Springs you'll have some concern about safety."
Justice of the Peace Dayton Myers, R-District 7, told Mahoney there was no support for the Hobson Avenue location.
"I've not heard from one senior who's supportive of the senior center going in at this location," he said after the committee declined to endorse the purchase. "I don't think I've heard from any of them that they don't want a senior center. They just don't want it to be next to a homeless shelter."
Myers suggested the county pay the $1.15 million asking price for the Quapaw Community Center Mahoney referenced earlier in the meeting. He and City Manager Bill Burrough have said they were in negotiations to purchase the building from the bank that foreclosed on it in 2021. According to property records, the bank sold it to a Texas partnership in November for $475,000.
"Rather than treating our seniors as second-class citizens and worrying about how much money we're going to spend on the front end to purchase the building, if we have to spend $1.1 million, or in that range, to buy the other building, if that's what the seniors want, I think we should give it to them," Myers told the committee.
"This is a retirement community. We need to have an adequate senior center to serve these people," he said.
Mahoney said the building is four times the size of 126 Hobson and needs "a lot of work."
"The cost of operation on a 32,000-square-foot building would be pretty big," Mahoney told Myers. "We'll certainly not quit looking, and I would challenge this committee to find a place, as well. Perhaps this committee could come up with some ideas and submit them at next month's meeting."
Mahoney said Quapaw Community Center is one of several buildings the city, county and hospital have inquired about. The list included the old Social Security Administration office at 225 Hazel St. The I. Granger McDaniel-designed building reverted to the federal government in 2020.
"We went through a year's worth of negotiations with the federal government on the Social Security building," Mahoney said. "It's a really unique building. In the end [the General Services Administration] gave it to [Spa Area Independent Living Services]."
Mahoney said it would cost $300 a square foot to build a new location, almost four times the cost per square foot at 126 Hobson.
Seniors who addressed the committee said quieting the clamor that's been building for a senior center since 2018 put the Hobson Avenue location on the Quorum Court's agenda. Location, capacity and safety were afterthoughts, they said.
"It's definitely not a rush job or to appease people who are upset," CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs President Dr. Doug Ross replied. "We want this to be a wise decision for the community. I think with some of the lack of real estate, there is some concern if we don't move on this building this could further delay things."