Warren Senior Center Opens In Bigger Spot

The McMinnville-Warren County Senior Center has moved to a new location that will allow them to better support the community.

Executive Director Lana Hillis said the move was necessary because the center had run out of room. Hillis said their new location in the former Three Star Mall is over three times larger than the last one.

“We could not serve any more,” Hillis said. “We were having to turn down members because our facility was so small. It’s only 5,200 square feet. We’re able to seat now 180 members at one time, so it’s, we had to have the space. We had outgrown our building.”

Hillis said the move was a difficult task, but seeing the members come in and enjoy the new space made it all worth it. She said the new location has also allowed them to add more pool tables and offer extra classes to their members.

“Prior we were having to stage those,” Hillis said. “We would have to have a class and then tear down and set up the next one due to the size of our building. Now we have, we’ve got classrooms for them to go to.”

Hillis said the move took about ninety days from start to finish with the help of County Executive Terry Bell and the Warren County Commission.

“I’ve spent hours and hours and hours here working,” Hillis said. “Picking, you know, like colors and helping with the renovation because we had to reconstruct everything that was here, so I’ve been hands on deck with every process that’s been done here.”

Hillis said the center was closed for a week and a half while they completed various inspections before they were able to open on July 8.

“Part of it was we had to have the finishing up of our flooring and all of our inspections,” Hillis said. “So timing, getting them in to do their inspections and everything, that took some getting them in here.”