Apple Valley seniors get first look at $4.25 million center

Leaders of a senior citizens club in Apple Valley recently got their first peek inside a $4.25 million senior citizen center that's about 70 percent finished.

The center, on track to be finished in June, was part of a $14.4 million parks project approved by voters in a bond referendum in November 2007. The money also will be used to expand the Apple Valley Aquatic Center, at 140th Street and Johnny Cake Ridge Road, and improve the Quarry Point Athletic Complex, at 160th Street and Pilot Knob Road, as well as make improvements in 40 city parks, City Administrator Tom Lawell said.

Carol Geiger, president of the Apple Valley Seniors, said the membership of nearly 600 seniors is excited about the new building, which replaces a small, cramped center that was torn down.

"I'm impressed," Geiger said after touring the new center. "It is spacious and very open, and I think when it is finished, it will be inviting and hospitable."

The 21,000-square-foot building is on the city's west side, near Hayes Road and 145th Street.

"It's essentially a congregation point for our seniors," said Randy Johnson, the city's parks and recreation director, "so the main focus of the first floor is a large, multi-use space." That will seat 250 people, or it can be divided into three spaces, he said.

The city's senior-citizen services office will be on the first floor, along with a small kitchen, a lounge with vending machines, a classroom and a presentation room with stadium seating.

"We think we'll have lots of different events in there," Johnson said. "The seniors like having presentations on a variety of things, everything from going on vacation to buying insurance."

On the second floor will be rooms for hobbies, crafts, pool tables, card tables and storage.

In the evenings, when the seniors typically aren't there, the center will be available for use by others, Johnson said.

The impetus for a bigger center came from demographic projections. Between 2000 and 2030, Dakota County's 65-and-older population is projected to increase by 225 percent, growing from 26,250 to 86,000.

Additional construction cost

City Council Member John Bergman has questioned an unexpected construction cost for the senior center, called a change order, in the amount of about $29,000.

That was submitted to the city for payment by a masonry firm, Axel H. Ohman Inc. of Minneapolis. The higher costs weren't Ohman's fault, Johnson said.

Early on, a grading company was delayed in starting by a couple of weeks as it met the city's insurance requirements for contractors, he said. That delayed when Ohman's masons could start.

"We didn't lose any time, but it forced the masons to work in cold and inclement conditions, so they had to construct a temporary structure," he said.

Masons had to protect the concrete as it dried with plastic sheathing, held by a wooden frame. The masons finished in December instead of November, as had been planned.

Johnson said that change orders are common and that the city had figured in unexpected costs, so the project remained within budget.

Meanwhile, city attorneys are looking into whether Apple Valley can sue the grading company for damages.

Joy Powell • 952-882-9017