The End of McGovern Senior Center?

McGovern Park Senior Center. Photo taken May 24, 2020 by Jeramey Jannene.

If Milwaukee County wants to save the McGovern Park Senior Center for the long term, it will likely need to make nearly $2 million in repairs.

In August, the senior center’s basement flooded during the historic storm that swamped homes throughout the northwest side of Milwaukee. The county closed the building to the public for cleanup. In September, the county closed the center indefinitely, citing “significant mold contamination.”

A new engineering report by the SIGMA Group has identified what maintenance the building needs to address issues with stormwater drainage and flooding. The report, which focused on causes of moisture and water infiltration, offers two maintenance options: a minimal renovation plan estimated to cost approximately $905,000, making immediate repairs needed to shore up the building; and a “comprehensive renovation plan” estimated at approximately $1.9 million “to provide long-term solutions that replace failing or faulty building systems.”

The county’s Department of Administrative Services (DAS) has been managing mold remediation at the senior center after airborne and surface sampling found concentrations of mold spores. The SIGMA Group conducted an inspection in November and did not find “apparent concentrated or widespread mold growth.” The inspection did not include any mold sampling or laboratory analysis.

“Previous analysis by a separate firm that specializes in indoor air quality identified the mold issue within the building prior to the Sigma report,” Sean Hayes, director of facilities management, sold Urban Milwaukee in a statement. “Milwaukee County does not recommend proceeding with a final comprehensive mold cleaning until the underlying moisture issues are corrected.”

The senior center has flooded three times in the last five years and Hayes is recommending the county pursue the more expensive comprehensive renovation over short-term repairs. “Completing remediation without addressing the root causes creates a high likelihood of recurrence,” Hayes wrote in a January 26 memo released by County Executive David Crowley‘s office.

The senior center will remain closed to the public until repairs are completed and a final mold cleanup is conducted, Hayes told Urban Milwaukee.

In a statement, Crowley expressed support for maintaining access to the public senior center, but said the county faces “budgetary constraints in maintaining and improving the facilities.” The county has a significant list of infrastructure needs estimated at approximately $1 billion over the next five years. The county’s budget for maintenance and capital investment is annually outstripped by requests from departments.

The county executive also expressed a commitment to the conceptual plan for new senior centers released by the county’s Aging Commission in 2024. The MKE Hubs report envisions modern senior centers, with new amenities and programmatic offerings, potentially co-located in mixed-use buildings.

Crowley said he would “continue to work with partners and community members to pursue opportunities similar to our MKE Hubs proposals. These represent solutions that require community support to maintain sustainable, long-term services and programming for seniors in Milwaukee County in the years ahead.”

Crowley’s administration pursued a mixed-use redevelopment of the McGovern Senior Center in June last year, before the floods. The administration proposed partnering with Jewish Family Services (JFS) to build a new multi-story building with a senior center on the first floor and 30 to 55 units of affordable senior housing on the floors above. JFS would have financed the development itself. The building would have been built on the footprint of the existing senior center and parking lot, in McGovern Park. A majority of the Milwaukee County Board voted to reject the proposal because the project included housing, calling it an inappropriate use of a public park.

When the McGovern project was shot down, and the center flooded shortly after, the uncertain future of the county’s public senior centers was thrown into stark relief. The administration estimates it would need to spend approximately $3.8 million annually on senior center maintenance just to keep up with the county’s five senior centers. To date, this level of spending has not been prioritized when pitted against the long list of other infrastructure needs policymakers consider each year.

If the county is going to invest the $1.9 million needed to renovate the senior center, addressing water infiltration and building systems on the verge of ruin, then it will also need to commit to continue investing in the maintenance needs of the building long term, Hayes wrote in his memo.

For now, the county will keep the building closed until comprehensive renovations can occur. The ultimate fate of the existing McGovern Senior Center will therefore be left to policymakers, who will have to consider whether to fund repairs and keep up with building maintenance in a way they have not done in years.

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