During a public meeting on Wednesday afternoon with City officials and members of the Shelbyville Bedford County Senior Citizens Board, Sonia Miller, center director, said she would like to see a new facility built, potentially off Colloredo Boulevard.
While speculative at this time, the group discussed how there may be some property available off Colloredo, which is right off North Main Street. But no discussions have been held with current owners as of Wednesday regarding potential purchase.         

“If we go into a random building somewhere, that is old, the center will die,” said Miller. “I just feel like it will be the end of the senior center. But if you build something new . . . they’ll want to come.”
The director said she has researched some other new city senior centers. She said while a lot of dollars could be involved with a new facility here, she’s known to be successful at applying for grants at the center. She is also leaning on City support for such an endeavor-if a new purchase is possible.
The City of Shelbyville and Bedford County Government each support the nonprofit with donations out of yearly budgets. The center is meant to operate as self-sustaining throughout the year.
Some City Council members present on Wednesday indicated that there are several capital projects within the City already ahead of this senior center proposal. One of those potential capital outlay projects is a proposed public safety building which would house the police and fire stations.
Miller said with great emotion, “What we do is so much more than y’all hear.”
She added, “COVID really did a number. We lost a lot of people. So, we’ve struggled. We have regulars that come on a daily basis.”

So how did this potential move from J.G. Helton Drive (near Shelbyville Central High School) come about in the first place?
During the meeting it was reported that Cooper Steel had expressed an interest in purchasing the Senior Center property, which technically belongs to the City, over a year ago. It was discussed Wednesday that a purchase of the property might be ideal and could potentially give the seniors a fresh start with a new location, etc. But most Wednesday said they didn’t want to be presumptive.
A big kicker is that a brand new possible 10,000 square feet building with ample parking could carry a price tag of at least a million, one local realtor present estimated. That does not include land, only a structure.
But the question came up as to whether Cooper Steel might even still be interested in purchasing the property, since it’s been so long since the original proposal.
With that, Miller and Senior Center Board Member Tonya Davis were charged with meeting with their board and providing more information about potential funding requests and the ideal property of choice.

City Manager Scott Collins, who was present for the meeting, was going to re-approach Cooper Steel and see if the offer is even still on the table. After more planning, a submission could be made to the full City Council about the Center’s request(s), those in attendance agreed.                                                                    There was no quorum of Council members at this meeting. Council members present were Betsy Noel, Josh Blevins and Marilyn Ewing. Mayor Randy Carroll was unable to attend.

On Thursday morning, Collins told the T-G that Cooper Steel is indeed still interested in purchasing the property on J.G. Helton Drive.
More on this story in the 8/14 edition of the Times-Gazette.