In his free time, longtime San Antonian Eugene Hines likes to be social and active; line dancing, yoga, photography, bingo and meeting new people.
Hines, a 93-year-old former Army nurse and city health worker, has a lot of free time since he retired decades ago — and much of it is spent at the District 2 Senior Center on San Antonio’s East Side. The center is surrounded by asphalt and concrete in a strip mall off the bustling W.W. White Road.
“There’s always something to do in District 2,” Hines said Thursday, quoting a poster behind his chair inside the center’s large cafeteria, which also serves as a gaming and karaoke room, mini kitchen, TV room and event space.
Now, there’s not enough space for everything that they do inside the roughly 15,800-square-foot facility leased by the city. The community has outgrown the center, which first opened in 2011, and the city is making plans to build a bigger and better one.
The activities and functions of the current facility have long been “congested,” said Hines, a member of the center’s senior advisory committee. Roughly 150 members visit the center daily and the overlapping activities and chatter compete for attention and space.
Off the cafeteria, one private office-sized room cycles through different arts and crafts activities, a small computer lab hosts 13 computers and the gym includes ellipticals, weights, space for workout sessions and several pool tables huddled to the side. The parking lot in front is typically full and has only four ADA-compliant spaces.
The District 2 facility, while well-staffed and well-managed, is “pathetic” compared to the spacious senior centers in the North Side of San Antonio, Hines said, noting that the East Side has a long history of underinvestment and is home to a large concentration of Black residents.
“We need something more sophisticated,” he said.
According to officials, the City of San Antonio and Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez (D2) are on a path to change that.
A new East Side senior center
On Monday, the San Antonio Independent School District board approved the sale of roughly 12 acres of undeveloped property at 4911 Lord Road to the city, which plans to build a brand-new senior center there.
SAISD had purchased the parcels on Lord Road in 1963 and 1977 for less than $60,000, district spokeswoman Laura Short said. “We believe it may have been purchased for either a district or school facility.”
The property’s sale is not part of the district’s so-called “rightsizing” efforts to close schools and consolidate staff and students into fewer facilities. The district plans on leasing properties with existing buildings.
The city plans to purchase the Lord Road property, which is adjacent to Copernicus Park and less than two miles north of the current District 2 Senior Center, for $745,000. That money comes from McKee-Rodriguez’s capital improvements fund — each council district received $1 million for such projects this year.
A new senior center for the East Side has been a priority of the councilman’s since soon after he was elected in 2021, he said.
McKee-Rodriguez said he and his staff visit the senior center monthly. “Every time I go, I’m like: Man, the parking is awful … there’s no room for expansion, there’s no room for renovation or growth. There’s always so many seniors there.”
After the councilman toured the recently completed, $14 million Walker Ranch Senior Center and others, he said, “it was just very clear to me that our [East Side] seniors deserve more.”
City Council is slated to vote on the purchase in May, Assistant City Manager Lori Houston told the San Antonio Report. A feasibility study, funded through the city’s 2023 budget, found that “there is a need for a larger District 2 senior center,” Houston said.
The property on Lord Road is big enough for a larger center, “plus, potentially, senior housing,” she said, adding that it would be San Antonio’s first full-service senior center to be co-located with housing.
The criteria in the feasibility study that the city used to identify potential property included space for 30-60 apartments, 15-20 ADA-compliant parking stalls, possible outdoor gathering spaces and recreation areas, courtyards, community garden, walking trails, and “possibly a swimming pool.”
Uncertain timeline
But there’s currently no city funding set aside for design or construction, Houston said: “That, more than likely, will [come from] the 2027 bond program.”
The 2022 bond included $150 million for affordable housing projects, most of which has already been allocated. Several council and community members have expressed support for at least that much funding to be in the 2027 bond.
After the San Antonio Report told Hines about the looming purchase of the land for the new center, he smiled and said: “It’s about time. We’ve waited for so long.”
A new senior center will be a great “service for humanity and service for community,” he said. And unlike the current location, the Lord Road property is on a quieter neighborhood street with access to park space.
There will be several community input meetings to find out what residents most want to see at the new facility, McKee-Rodriguez said.
Ideally, the project wouldn’t have to wait until the next municipal bond, he said — which may mean a public-private partnership.
“I’m thinking about the big community partners that we have, and wondering what role they can play in helping us make this a reality” before 2027, he said.
If that doesn’t pan out, McKee-Rodriguez said, “we’ll at least make sure that we have the [project] shovel-ready by 2027. … My goal is to move as quickly as possible to get our seniors the center that they deserve.”
Hines said he looks forward to working with the councilman to make the new center a reality, but he will hold off on getting too excited so early in the process.
“Things change,” he said with another smile, and 93 years of experience. “We may get it and we may not, so I will wait until I see the floor plan.”
