Lymes’ Senior Center Project ‘Moving Forward,’ First Trade Bids Opened Feb. 6

Posted on by
The exterior of the Lymes’ Senior Center on Town Woods Rd. in Old Lyme. File photo

OLD LYME—Asked by LymeLine in a phone interview on Tuesday, Jan. 30, how the Lymes’ Senior Center Renovation and Expansion project was progressing, chair of the Lymes’ Senior Center Building Committee Jeri Baker responded enthusiastically, “We’re moving forward!”

She explained that her positive outlook stemmed from the fact that this afternoon, Tuesday, Feb. 6, from 2 through 4 p.m., Newfield Construction Management will open the bids for the building trades in the Old Lyme Memorial Town Hall Meeting Room. Baker added, “This is a public event,” adding, “There has been a lot of interest in the project—11 trade packages were sent out and we held a walk-through for the trades last week.”

Jeri Baker addresses the audience in the Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School auditorium during a June 2023 presentation to the public about the Lymes’ Senior Center proposal. Martha Shoemaker, who is now Old Lyme First Selectwoman but was a Selectwoman at the time of this photo, stands at left. File photo.

Commenting, “We are hopeful that the bids come in around the March 2023 estimates,” she noted, “Despite the unexpected and unavoidable delays we experienced, there is genuine excitement now to begin the work.”

Solidifying her recent commitment “to communicate more,” Baker told LymeLine that plans for private fundraising had begun, applications for two grants were in the works and a ground-breaking ceremony was being planned for mid-March.