Warren Hoping To Use Three-Star Mall Building For New Purposes

Warren County working through paperwork to move its senior center into the old Three-Star Mall building.

County Executive Terry Bell said the building is located off of Sparta Street in McMinnville. He said the county had already bought the JCPenney’s portion of the mall to use as the expanded health department.

“Our senior center, the growth has just been phenomenal over the last few years over there,” Bell said. “Miss Linda Hillis has been doing an excellent job running that facility. Ad they’ve run out of space to do parking and to be able to get enough of the seniors in there.”

Bell said they also plan on using a portion of the building to house UCHRA operations. He said UCHRA had been looking to make Warren County a new hub for expanded transportation services. He said they hope to put those operations in the Goody’s building, which has been vacant for three years.

Bell said the process to get the health department, senior center, and UCHRA will take some time due to paperwork and renovation needs. He said JCPenny’s will require a total overhaul to make sure it meets the requirements as a health department.

“And we’ll probably have to do the same for UCHRA and the senior center because both of those, the Goody’s building and the JCPenny’s building were both retail stores for clothes,” Bell said. “So they’re not designed for those fits. but we’ll redesign those, and get some construction going, and hopefully by next year they can both be over there.”

Bell said the health department portion would cost about $4.1 million of American Rescue Plan money. He said the senior center and UCHRA portion will cost about $2.1 million.