Clarksville’s Ajax Turner Senior Citizens Center addition 60% complete

$2.7 million addition scheduled to open in July

Clarksville, TN – Work continues on a $2.7 million addition to the Ajax Turner Senior Citizens Center, which will provide improved quality of life for more Clarksville residents.

The new 14,600 square foot, two-story structure will provide more space for programs and services for the center’s growing number of seniors who drop in for meals, activities, classes and recreation.

The project is 60 percent complete and is expected to be finished in July 2017, City Projects Manager Hatem Shah said Friday.

“We’re proud of this project, which is needed to better serve Clarksville’s senior citizens,” Clarksville Mayor Kim McMillan said. “A larger facility will allow us to serve more citizens, and this will expand Ajax Turner’s ability to provide nutrition and activities that help keep our seniors active, healthy and happy.”

Anita Atchley, executive director of Ajax Turner, said when ground was broken on the addition in August that the center serves an average of 220 seniors a day, and demand for services is soaring.

The capital project, known as Phase 1 & 2, was approved by the City Council in July 2015. Designed by Violette Architecture of Clarksville, the expansion will include a large meeting room that will hold 60 people; a smaller meeting room for 20 people; a classroom; two crafts rooms; a nurse’s station and three offices. A&K Construction, Paducah, KY, submitted the lowest bid and was awarded the project.

Phase 1 of the project – renovation of four restrooms – has already been completed under a separate contract, and Phase 3 is being designed to add additional parking spaces, internal modification and renovation, and safety improvements.