Tipp City Seniors Inc. finds place to call home

Tipp City TIPP CITY — Seniors Inc. has found an existing building it plans to call home after hopes of building a new seniors center were ended when bids exceeded resources.

The organization was scheduled to close Friday on buying the Evans Title building on North Hyatt Street, just north of the city post office.

Voters in Tipp City and Monroe Twp. agreed in fall 2015 to support a 1-mill, five-year levy to raise money for a new home to replace the current South First Street structure that organization leaders said was too small, not accessible and lacked parking.

Before the seniors can complete building renovations and a move, the Tipp City Council is being asked to approve an amendment to the city zoning code to add fraternal, charitable and service-oriented clubs as a permitted use within the OS-Office Service Zoning District.

Council previously approved two similar requests that would have allowed the center in two locations – off North Third Street and further north on Hyatt Street – that later were abandoned. The first location was dropped because of issues with the Miami Conservancy District restrictions and the second because of the growth in project cost.

Plans to build a new facility a short distance to the north of the Evans Title building on Hyatt Street had to be dropped after bids for the proposed new building came in at around $2 million, or $240 to $280 per square foot. When prices first were sought, the seniors were told they could build for $140 per square foot, and the 1-mill levy was based on those numbers, said John Berk, who is chairing the seniors building committee with Gordon Pittenger Sr.

“I guess we were old-fashioned or something, but we thought that (1-mill levy) would build us anything we wanted,” Pittenger said.

The levy income will be used to pay off a loan to buy the building and leave some money for building alterations, which initially will include a sprinkler system and a warming kitchen. Other desired changes would be done as money is available, Pittenger said.

The seniors hope to move into the building in the spring.

Berk said a new home was needed for existing membership along with a planned larger membership the organization thinks would be possible with more space, parking and added activities. The organization has around 185 members.

“We are really trying to reach out to people in their 60s and 70s. They pretty much say, ‘When you get your new building, we’d be interested in joining,’” Berk said. “They won’t come to this building where there is very limited parking,”

After buying the Evans Title building, the seniors will place for sale the existing South First Street home and the five acres it purchased off North Hyatt Street for the center whose plans were abandoned. Chairman of building committee