Enterprise breaks ground on new civic and senior center

By Carole Brand

Published: June 25, 2008

As members of the Enterprise City Council, Coffee County Commission and chamber of commerce, gathered Tuesday morning for a ground breaking ceremony, the new Enterprise Civic and/Senior Citizens Center sign was unveiled before a large crowd.

The new civic and senior center is located on Highway 167 north, just a walking distance from the Enterprise Recreational Complex.

Enterprise Mayor Kenneth Boswell said the new unveiling was a pleasure to witness and the progress made during the last six to eight months.

“We come to far to stop new and this new facility will serve the community for years to come,” Boswell said. “We’ve got the stage also set for future growth.”

Boswell recognized the partnership with the county’s commissioners and said they were one of the major reasons “we were able to do the project.”

Boswell also recognized state Sen. Jimmy Holley, who was in attendance for the groundbreaking, who the mayor said was “instrumental in helping us with ADECA.”

The building, funded in part by an Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs Community Development Block Grant, was also supported, Holley said, by Gov. Bob Riley.

“ The governor did also assist in helping get funding from ADECA,” Holley noted. “This will be an excellent site and a better and bigger location for our senior citizens.”

The new building will house 32,400 square-feet of space, a 15,000 square-feet auditorium and 5,000 square feet for the Senior Center. It will consist of a fully functional auditorium that will seat 1,500 people, or 800 people banquet style and will be utilized for shows, weddings, and other family events. This area will include a fully furnished commercial support kitchen, large lobby with restrooms, large multifunctional state, audio/visual equipment, and table/chair storage.

According to Enterprise Special Projects Coordinator Tara Emnet, the Senior Center will be located on the back of the building and will house general useage spaces, to include a furnished commercial support kitchen, which will be shared with the rest of the building, a serving area, cafeteria designed to seat 60 people, a quilting area, TV room, computer room, arts and crafts room, exercise room, and general office space.

Emnet said, “in addition to the entertainment venue and senior center, the building will provide administrative support space, along with small and medium sized meeting rooms. The building is designed to serve as an operations center for the city, should a disaster directly hit the City Hall complex.”

Both the north and west side entrances will have drive-thru covered canopies for visitors in the event of inclement weather.

Despite the formal groundbreaking Tuesday, the Civic/Senior Center project has been underway since the fall of 2007. In cooperation with the city and county, the American Construction Training School provided the labor for the site preparation free of charge. Because of this generous donation, the City saved approximately $1 million.

“Boswell has been working on this project since he came into office and is excited to see it physically in action,” Emnet said.

“I have been on this project from the beginning, and after all of the persistence on the part of our council and our engineers, it is gratifying to finally see the earth moving, and things happening on this site,” Boswell added."This building will not only be an enhancement to the quality of life, we want to provide for our citizens, but it will also serve as a symbol of progress, in a city known for just that.”

Weather permitting, construction of the building is scheduled to be approximately completed in April 2009.