New senior center still awaiting construction
Butler County is in the midst of converting a former fitness club in Butler Township into a new office for the Butler County Area Agency on Aging, one that will include amenities like indoor pickleball courts for the county’s seniors.
The county purchased the former health and fitness club building at 215 N. Duffy Road for $437,500 in December 2021 and plans to use it to replace the agency on aging’s current office at Sunnyview Circle.
Butler County commissioners ratified submission of the site plan and a $25,328 proposal to design the conversion of two racquetball courts into two pickleball courts at their meeting in August. The commissioners hired Moshier Studio of Pittsburgh for the design, which is being handled as a separate project from the rest of the building renovation project.
Construction has not yet begun, but the plans for it have been discussed by the agency’s administrators, as well as at the agency’s advisory board committee meetings.
Beth Herold, administrator of the Butler County Area Agency on Aging, said the center would offer amenities for seniors that are not offered by other senior centers in Butler County. Additionally, safety is a priority for the new space, especially when it comes to getting into and out of facilities.
“The pickleball court is in that, but it will be a multipurpose exercise court area,” Herold said at an agency advisory board meeting. “You’ll have to swipe to get into the basement where the locker rooms are, swipe to get into the locker rooms, too, and then swipe to get into the office areas.”
Herold also said seniors will be able to quickly get to the VA Butler Healthcare building, which is close to the new Area Agency on Aging site.
“It’s not easy for seniors to get in and out of our building, like to park and to get into our services,” Herold said. “It will be so nice when we get in there and the VA is right there, and people can just walk up one flight of steps and there we are.”
