Proposed Marine Park Senior Center Misses Opening Day And Is Way Above Budget

The in-construction senior center at Fillmore Avenue in Marine Park that was supposed to open in 2009 is still not ready. Local leaders and residents are frustrated with the time this project has taken and the soaring cost.

Currently, the building is costing three times more than the original projections, reports the Daily News. Residents blame the green building initiatives for the delay and rising rate.

The Parks Department and elected officials first put the building price at $5.5 million in 2004. Then raised the budget to $11 million in 2008. Now, the cost is at $16 million.

“It’s aggravating and frustrating,” Marine Park Civic Association president Jim Ivaliotis. “The feeling is we didn’t need this fancy building. It was bad budgeting and bad planning.”

The center is situated in Marine Park and is set to feature a geothermal energy system that heats and cools the building by pumping water through it. The building will also have solar paneling and a living green roof.

The geothermal green technology is said to be the costliest of the building’s additions.

A Parks Department spokesperson stated that the building will decrease energy use by almost 45 percent compared with another building of that size, which pays out in the long run.

Local politicians want to see the center open, but have doubts that it will meet the proposed winter opening deadline.

“We’re doing our best to hold their feet to the fire,” said John Quaglione, spokesman for state Senator Martin Golden. “This has been hanging around our neck.”