Lexington’s senior center is in high demand. When will the $25M new one be built?
Lexington’s newest senior center and therapeutic recreation center will have more group exercise space to keep up with increased demand from Lexington’s active seniors, city officials said Tuesday.
The more than $25 million facility planned for Shillito Park off of Reynolds Road will be 26,207 square feet and will house a senior center and the city’s therapeutic recreation program for adults with disabilities. That $25 million includes all costs not just construction.
“This is going to provide an additional site for both of our programs. Therapeutic recreation is being served in 20 different locations,” said Kristy Stambaugh, director of aging and disability services for the city.
The city’s main senior center in Idle Hour opened in 2016, replacing a much older building on Nicholasville Road. Thanks to the new building and expanded programming, the senior center had a dramatic jump in participation in exercise and other classes, city officials have said. The city has three, smaller satellite smaller senior center locations, including Bell House.
“Our drop-in (exercise) classes reach capacity every day,” said Strambaugh.
What will be in the new Shillito Park facilities?
Therapeutic recreation began in 1955 and has continued to grow, said Jill Farmer, director of therapeutic recreation for the city.
There is an average of eight people on a waitlist per activity per year, Farmer said. Farmer said they will continue to operate those programs throughout the city. The new facility will provide more opportunities and better facilities, she said during a Tuesday presentation of the plans before the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council work session.
The plans for the new building call for large group exercise rooms, a fitness gym, an art studio and classroom space. It will also have a gym or sports court that will serve both programs and can be used for activities like archery, wheelchair sports, drumming and pickleball.
“We will have three indoor pickleball courts,” Farmer said.
The one-story building will use more natural materials on the exterior, said Geoff Meehan, of EOP Architects.
The fitness gym is 400 square feet larger than the fitness room at the Idle Hour Senior Center. The new space will allow for more exercise machines, free weights and weight machines, officials said Tuesday.
The proposed group fitness space can accommodate all of the senior fitness classes such as step aerobics, balance and fall prevention and standing and seated exercise classes.
It will allow the city’s senior programming to nearly double its fitness programming, Stambaugh said.
Lexington’s senior population is booming
The Shillito Park location is ideal because so many seniors live on the city’s south side, said Councilwoman Whitney Elliott Baxter, who represents the neighborhoods in the Reynolds Road area.
“I represent the highest number of aging individuals in Lexington, and with the current senior center operating at max capacity, a new facility was definitely needed,” Elliott Baxter said.
Shillito Park also has walking trails, a pool and other sports facilities. It’s also easy to get to, she said.
“The added benefits of a walking trail and improved recreation opportunities like the new tennis and pickleball complex at Shillito sealed the deal,” Elliott Baxter said.
Stambaugh said that approximately 1,600 seniors who currently participate in senior services live on the city’s south side. U.S. Census data shows roughly one in four people in Fayette County is over 55.
Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton put money in the current-year $532 million budget for the new senior center. The city will bond or borrow to pay for the new center.
Bids for the project will be released in September. Construction will start in November with a tentative opening date of May 2026, city officials said.
