John T. O'Connor Senior Center ADA Improvements
NOTICE: This project was substantially completed in Fall 2019. Check out the Progress and Post-Construction Photos under the Progress Photos tab.
About the O’Connor Center
Located in Caswell Park just east of Fourth and Gill, the O’Connor Center serves residents age 50 and older with health services, physical fitness, recreation, and education and acts as a robust center for the Parkridge Community. With a very high user-volume and a focus on seniors, the O’Connor Center was designated a high-priority for accessibility improvements.
What We’re Doing
The O’Connor Center sub-project is broken into two phases. Phase 1—scheduled to begin construction in January 2019—will address interior accessibility issues and includes:
- Improvements to the North Restrooms
- Improvements to the West (entry) Restrooms
- Improvements to the East Restrooms
- Adjustments to protruding wall mounted objects.
- Replacement of hardware on >45 doors
- Door openers for the West (entry) Restrooms
- Provision of ADA-compliant Tables in the Dinning Room
Phase 2—scheduled to begin in May 2019—will address exterior issues and includes:
- Renovation of all designated ADA parking spaces
- Provision of accessible routes between the O’Connor Center, the YMCA, and Jessamine Street
- Designation of crosswalks within the vehicular lanes surrounding the center.
- Reconstruction of the main entrance to the O’Connor Center
Our Timeline & Impacts
As noted above, construction for the interior portions of this project is scheduled to begin in January. To minimize disruption to the Center’s operations, the interior work has been planned to close one restroom at a time with each restroom project expected to take 4-8 weeks to complete. All interior work should be complete this summer.
Historically, usage of the O’Connor Center is lowest during the summer months. This lower usage combined with the arrival of more favorable weather and longer days has exterior work currently scheduled to begin in May. Despite this coordination to minimize impact, the scope of the work being performed will significantly impact parking at the O’Connor Center affecting both the center and the adjacent Cansler YMCA. The work will also necessitate closure of the building’s main entrance.
To mitigate these issues, PBA is working with the City to make additional parking available in a nearby City-Owned lot which has existing pedestrian connections to the Center and YMCA. More information on this parking will be posted once a start date for the exterior work is confirmed.
