Allen R. Baca Center for Senior and Community Activities opens in Round Rock
Allen R. Baca Center for Senior and Community Activities opens in Round Rock
Written by Cathy Kincaid Friday, 07 April 2006
The grand opening of the new Baca Center in Round Rock, April 5, completed the second of four buildings included in the city complex at 301 W. Bagdad. According to Center Superviser Tanya Jackson, the 29,000 sq. ft. facility is one of the largest in the area.
Unlike some senior centers such as those in Cedar Park and Georgetown which are private facilities, this facility is an entity of the City of Round Rock under the direction of the Parks and Recreation department.
Jackson says that the day the old Senior Center on Main Street opened in 1993, it was already too small. The new facility is large enough to serve the growing senior population for many years.
“As the baby boomers turn 50, there will be a growing need for centers such as this one,” Jackson said. “Since we opened [Mar. 6], we have already seen an increase in the number of daily visitors from 100 to 150. We expect it to increase to 200 a day.”
The building offers areas that Jackson says are unique to senior centers such as the large exercise room, which is already being rented out by a Jazzercise class.
All of the various rooms are available for rental, which is one of the ways the Center hopes to pay for itself.
“The Center is not just for seniors,” Jackson said. “It is one of the only facilities in the area that can serve up to 300 people. It was planned for the community also as a great place for those needing a site for receptions, reunions and other large events.”
The 29,000 sq.ft facility includes a cardio/weight room, computer lab, meeting space, banquet room, two kitchens, billiards room, TV/Game room and an arts and crafts room.
The Activity Center includes helpful amenities: handrails down each hallway, a patio with guardrail, emergency buttons throughout the Center and parking garage, a First-Aid room, automatic entry doors, and a convenient underground parking garage with elevator that comes directly into the Center.
The Senior Center volunteers dedicate many hours selling cookbooks, calendars, candles, crafts, coverlets, nuts and daffodil bulbs. In addition, each year the Center hosts a pancake breakfast and attic sale benefiting senior programs.
For more information call 218-5499.
Who was Allen R. Baca?
If Baca and his Think Tank members could raise half of the cost, the city would match the other half. Through fundraisers and donations, the Think Tank raised the needed $17,000 which, combined with the City’s funds, led to the opening of the Round Rock Senior Activity Center on October 25, 1993.
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