Friday, April 20, 2001
The agency will have a 15,000-square-foot building when it is finished.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
MERCER, Pa. -- The Mercer County Area Agency on Aging Inc. will pay $15,000 for about a half-acre to expand its proposed new senior center on Buhl Farm Drive in Hermitage.
The agency's board of directors approved the purchase from the Bill Rudge Ministries of Living Truth Inc. on Thursday.
The agency bought a 6,500-square-foot building at the site from Rudge Ministries in January for $379,000 and said at the time that it would have to expand the facility to house all of its programs that were formerly located in an old school on Spearman Avenue in Farrell. Officials hope to be able to move into the new facility by midsummer.
Hermitage city commissioners approved a subdivision on the Rudge property in March to allow room for that expansion.
Bonds for expansion: The Agency on Aging plans to put up an 8,834-square-foot addition to the building. It is financing its project with a $2 million bond issue.
The agency closed its Farrell senior center more than a year ago, planning to gut and renovate the structure, but ran out of money before it could finish the project.
The board voted to have an appraisal done on the Farrell property to determine its value.
Ann Marie Spiardi, executive director, said no decision has been made on what will be done with the building and surrounding land.
The center programs were temporarily moved into the Farrell-Wheatland United Methodist Church in Wheatland and the agency's board approved increasing the rent for that facility Thursday.
It had been paying $500 a month but will pay $900 beginning this month to help cover the higher cost of heating from rising natural gas prices, Spiardi said.
The church has asked the agency to find a new home for its programs by July 31.