The Grove at Frisco Commons will begin operations Jan. 7 in a 30,000-square-foot facility on McKinney Road between Frisco Commons and Bi Centennial parks. The facility is nearly twice the size of the current Senior Center at Frisco Square on Moore Street.
The current senior center already offers recreational activities and classes. A new feature The Grove at Frisco Commons will offer is outdoor space, Senior Center Supervisor Leslie Rainey said.
“Just being in the outdoor setting is so much greater than being enclosed indoors; so, we can take our classes outside,” she said.
The outdoor space of the center includes a walking trail with connections to the community garden and Frisco Commons Park.
Some outdoor activities planned for the center include pickleball, bocce ball and fishing classes at the park.
“With having the back door be the park setting, we can have a lot of fun events that we can incorporate the community in,” Rainey said, adding that the center can host multigenerational events in the summer.
Other features at the new facility include a multipurpose room for classes and meetings, workout equipment and a larger billiards area.
The current senior center will close in mid-December as the new center prepares to open. During that time, new furniture and equipment will be moved in, and staff will be trained on policies and new technology, Rainey said.
The current senior center is planned to be used for the municipal court.
Once the new center opens, members will need to pay a fee to use the facility. Members can purchase a day pass, a month-to-month membership or an annual membership.
“Something that was proposed by [the Frisco Budget and Audit Committee] was that we try to be at least 20% cost recovery,” Rainey said. “That’s a goal that we’re aiming for. We recover maybe about 13% of our operations and facility expenses.”
The fees, which start at $3 a day for Frisco residents, will help the city recover some of the cost of the senior center’s operations, Rainey said. The multipurpose room will also be available for rent.
The senior center has about 1,800 members. The new facility will allow that number to grow and help the center fulfill its mission, Rainey said.
“Our main mission here at the senior center is we want to serve the 50-plus population of Frisco by offering them opportunities to be social, to be physically fit, to be interacting with each other, to also get information and get educated and continue to grow and continue to learn,” she said. “The new facility just allows us to do that ... We’ll have the capability of serving more people.”
