Baltimore officials on Tuesday announced that the Waxter Center for Senior Citizens will close temporarily for renovations on May 28 and identified three interim locations where comparable programs for seniors will be available while it’s off limits.
Baltimore health commissioner Michelle Taylor disclosed in February that the 52–year-old-building at 1000 Cathedral Street would close for repairs sometime this spring and that city officials were in the process of deciding where to move programs and activities while it’s unavailable.
On Tuesday, Taylor and other city officials told a Town Hall-style meeting of about 100 seniors at Waxter Center that, after considering 11 options, they have identified three locations where the city will offer a range of programs comparable to what’s currently available at Waxter Center.
They said residents are free to go to any of the senior centers and rec centers around the city, but these three locations were selected as the ones that come closest to offering what Waxter Center users have said they want to see in an interim facility.
Officials also said the city has identified a consultant to conduct a feasibility study to determine whether the Waxter Center should be renovated or replaced and that the study will get underway by this fall, after the city’s fiscal 2027 budget year starts July 1.
Taylor told the audience that the Waxter Center is likely to be closed for three to five years, meaning the interim location will need to be in place for that long. She said previously that the chief reason for the closure is that the building’s air conditioning system isn’t functioning and the city can’t have people in the building during the summer without air conditioning. She and assistant health commissioner Alice Huang said on Tuesday that even before May 28, the building will be closed any day the temperature inside exceeds 80 degrees.
Interim locations
The three facilities identified as interim locations for use while the Waxter Center is closed are: the Middle Branch Fitness and Wellness Center at 201 Reedbird Ave. in Cherry Hill; the Chick Webb Recreation Center at 1401 E. Monument St., and the Carolyn E. Fugett Intergenerational Center at 800 Poplar Grove St. in Sandtown-Winchester. The city’s target date for making them available is June 1.
The consultant selected to conduct the feasibility study is SETTY & Associates Ltd., a multi-disciplinary design and engineering firm based in Fairfax, Virginia. Its contract has not yet been approved by the Board of Estimates, the city’s spending panel.
The Middle Branch and Chick Webb centers are owned by the city. The Fugett center, located at the former Alexander Hamilton Elementary School, is owned by Catholic Charities of Baltimore. In all three cases, Waxter Center members would share the interim location with others, rather than having the building all to themselves.
Taylor said the city still needs to finalize arrangements with Catholic Charities for partial use of its building, which was just renovated. She said the city would like to use most of its third floor as a dedicated space for Waxter Center members.
She said the city is also exploring ways to give Waxter Center members free transportation to the interim locations.
Town Hall meetings
Tuesday’s Town Hall meeting was the third of three planned for this spring to keep Waxter Center members informed about the building’s temporary closure and renovation plans.
Waxter Center members had a wide range of reactions to the interim locations. Some expressed disappointment that they weren’t close to the Waxter Center and that the building had to be closed at all. The loudest outcry from the audience came when the Middle Branch center was mentioned because of its distance from the Waxter Center.
Others said members need to work with the health department and other city agencies to get the best possible long-range outcome. One influential Waxter Center member, Rose Hamm, said she thought the Fugett Intergenerational Center was the best option.
Taylor said the Fugett Center offers much of what Waxter Center users said they would like to see in an interim location, including multipurpose rooms, dance and art spaces and an outdoor walking path, but it doesn’t have a pool. Officials identified the Middle Branch and Chick Webb centers as options, she said, because they do have pools and other features that Waxter Center users said they want.
Taylor said the city has $500,000 in its fiscal 2027 budget for the feasibility study and that it will look at three possible outcomes. They are: renovating the Waxter Center to address the most pressing problems; renovating the building to address the most pressing problems and also to modify its interior to add features that users want to see; and tearing down the Waxter Center and building a replacement either in the same location or a different location.
The timetable for the study calls for work to start in September or October of 2026 and be complete in February or March of 2027. Officials said the city will then use the consultants’ recommendations to decide whether to renovate or replace the building. Taylor said three to five Waxter Center members will be appointed to a committee to work with the city and its consultants as the feasibility study proceeds and she promised that additional town hall meetings will be scheduled to keep members informed.
