New Senior Center for Gulfport?

By Jim McConville

After almost 40 years, Gulfport may need a new senior center. At the Nov. 2 Gulfport city council meeting, staff gave council a sampler of existing and future capital projects for fiscal year 2021-2022 and beyond, and the most talked-about project: whether to renovate or replace the Gulfport Multipurpose Senior Center. City manager Jim O’Reilly laid out two options with two different price tags. Council must decide between spending an estimated $9 million to renovate the senior center, or to spend $10-$15 million to build a new one.

“That’s the question here today, where do we go from here?” O’Reilly asked.

“Raising $10 million is beyond our capacity,” Ward One Councilwoman April Thanos said.

“The longer we keep kicking the can down the road,” cautioned Ward Four Councilman Michael Fridovich, “the higher the price is likely to be.”

After a 25-minute discussion, Council members informally gave O’Reilly the go-ahead to start the groundwork for a new senior center.

Gulfport built the Multipurpose Senior Center in 1983.