Senior center turning corner

After one year of fundraising, Oasis Senior Center is about $500,000 away from its $5-million goal to build the new 36,500-square-foot senior center, officials said this week. Construction on the new $20-million building is slated to begin early next year.

“What a difference a year makes,” Friends of Oasis President Evelyn Hart said. “When we first heard that we would have to raise that much money, it seemed a little daunting, but we have had a great many generous donors.”

A cozy new family room along Marigold Avenue in Corona del Mar overlooking the ocean will be the focal point of the new center, said architect Robert Coffee of Robert R. Coffee, Architect & Associates, who designed the new center.

“The family room is really the heart of the building,” Coffee said. “It’s really a place where people meet and greet each other. It’s the social center of the building.”

The new building also will include many environmentally friendly features and will have a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design silver rating to reflect its green design.

Recycled materials from the existing senior center, which is slated for demolition, will be incorporated into the new building, Coffee said. The new center also will feature recycled carpeting and other materials.

Solar panels will provide some of the building’s energy, and a natural ventilation system will take advantage of the area’s ocean breezes to keep cooling costs low. The center’s courtyard also will conserve water with a number of drought-resistant plants, Coffee said.

“One thing people said when we were designing things was that they really wanted to preserve the indoor-outdoor flow of the old building, and we tried to incorporate that into the design and keep it very light and airy,” Coffee said.

The building also will feature a fitness center, a dance room, library and computer room, and state-of-the-art audio visual equipment.

The Marguerite Avenue senior center is now housed in a former school building that’s more than 50 years old and serves about 10,000 people each month.

It will take about 18 months after construction begins before the building is completed and Oasis can begin hosting programs out of the new center, Coffee said.

The city has pledged $10 million to the project and about $5 million will come in the form of development fees from the Irvine Co. The rest of the money is scheduled to come from private donations. Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian pledged $2.5 million to the new senior center in June.

BRIANNA BAILEY may be reached at (714) 966-4625 or at brianna.bailey@latimes.com.