LUMBERYARD LOGS: All the comforts of home

After all the controversy, some 16 months of digging and noisy construction, the Senior/Community Center on Third Street is starting to look like a real place. A real neat place.

It’s about 75% complete, and last week I was able to get a hard-hat walk-through tour with the two people most involved in the project — Steve Nickle of Griffin Structures, the city’s program manager for the project, and Susan Cannan, who directs the city’s Community Services Department, which will be in charge of the building when it’s up and running.

Suffice to say, people — seniors and most everybody else, maybe even the neighbors — will be thrilled with this facility when it opens, sometime in the first quarter of 2009.

In my whirlwind tour, which took more than an hour, I was amazed at the amount of great stuff packed into a relatively small space, less than 20,000 square feet.

This “multi-generational” building has something for everyone. It’s built to the highest “green” standards, even though the city decided not to fork over $100,000 for an official certification with a plaque to that effect. It’s got numerous skylights that open and close for air and also let light in when it’s wanted and shut it out (reducing light “pollution”) when it’s not. It’s got solar tubes, which funnel light in concentrated form, for a natural light source in recessed offices and spaces.

The exterior siding will look like cedar, but it’s made from “cement board,” a hard composite that won’t get termites or need refinishing every few years, Nickle said. Slate stone will complement the “cedar,” and decorative touches like Craftsman-style trellises will create a “bungalow” or cottage look that is so appealing. Copper gutters, downspouts and planters will not only look beautiful when they acquire a green patina over time, but they are low-maintenance, according to Nickle.

Materials are being obtained locally or from “sustainable” sources, such as fast-growing bamboo for wood surfaces, and the glass in the windows is dual-glazed to keep temperatures from soaring or plummeting and reducing the need for heat or air conditioning. Construction materials that would ordinarily be discarded are being recycled wherever possible: Cannan pointed to a trough of old concrete bits in front of the building that will be reused.

The building itself is on a solid foundation anchored 85 feet down into bedrock, which, Cannan says, no water seeped out of during construction, thank goodness. It’s got 72 covered parking spaces in a garage that is level with the ground at the entrance, but is technically “underground” because the building is set into the hillside, which rises 35 feet to the rear. It has the unusual effect of appearing large when you are standing at one corner and small at the other. It also makes it fairly unobtrusive to the neighbors on the “small” side, who will see the tops of a collection of different-looking roofs, built to appear to be a series of different buildings instead of one monolithic structure, Nickle said.

As another peace-making gesture for the neighbors, the alley will be used only for lunch program deliveries and trash pickup, not for general access, Cannan says.

It’s “multi-generational” because half of it is designed with the senior set in mind, and the other half for kids and adults of any age.

The seniors, in fact, were the impetus behind the project, after years of grumblings about their Legion Hall home, and, led by the Quilter family, raised $2.5 million toward it. The rest of the cost, totaling $16.5 million, is being paid by the city. I’m sure the entire community will see the wisdom of this expenditure when it’s open for all to enjoy.

Senior side of building

On the “senior side” of the building, closest to City Hall, there’s a Great Room with room to seat 90, for the senior lunch program or any other large group activity, including dancing — with hardwood floors and a built-in projection screen for movies or educational programs. The “library/lounge” looks out onto a landscaped terrace and has a double-sided fireplace for cozy afternoons reading by the fire. Sweet.

As they say in those cheesy TV commercials, but wait, there’s more!

A computer room is specially designed to eliminate monitor glare, and a smaller room is earmarked for Seniors Inc. board meetings or other uses.

There’s a “catering” — as opposed to cooking — kitchen for the senior lunch program or any other gathering that requires refreshments, and a “card room” for the bridge club or smaller gatherings.

Seniors will have several ways of getting inside the building: They can drive into the garage and take an elevator one story up; they can get dropped off in front — at a recessed “drop-off” lane to be installed soon on Third Street — and take the stairs; or they can enter on the “ground floor” at the Mermaid Street side.

But wait, there’s more!

On the “community side” of the building, closer to the Third Street hill, a glorious dance room is taking shape with floor-to-ceiling windows so parents can admire their little ones as they prance about in tutus, with a comfy waiting nook nearby so they don’t hover too close.

A grassy area on the “community” side will be planted with turf so kids — and adults who act like them — can frolic while waiting for their dance, art or exercise classes to begin.

A magnificent art studio for classes connects to an outside “art deck” for plein air painting, with roll-up glass doors when not in use. It’s so Laguna!

Greeting folks at the front door will be city employee Patty Koss, who runs the senior programs, so the place will always have a friendly face.

So much care and thought has gone into the senior/community center that it is destined to be Laguna’s pride and joy.

Now if the City Council and Arts Commission could only agree on some art for the place, it would be complete.

CINDY FRAZIER is city editor of the Coastline Pilot. She can be contacted at (949) 494-2087 or cindy.frazier@latimes.com.