FRANKLIN
So that the people of Franklin and former graduates can get a preview of where the Hayden Village Center project currently stands, Senior Services of Southeastern Virginia will open the building up on Sunday from 2-5 p.m.

When they return in the fall of 2016 — the projected completion date — Franklin Mayor Raystine Johnson-Ashburn said alumni of Hayden Junior High School and area residents alike will have an appreciation of how far the building has come.

Touring the building on Wednesday, Construction Manager Al Hartley talked with this reporter about the evolving project. In the front of the building, the team hopes to retain the charm that it had back in 1951, up to not harming the massive oak trees.

On the interior, there are also several areas that the Hayden Village Center hopes to save. In the hallways, the murals are being preserved and the lockers are being restored. The original hardwood floor is being saved, while the wooden base is receiving an overhaul.

Hartley said in modern gyms the hardwood floors are being placed right on top of the concrete. But in this gym, the wooden base had a little bit of give that athletes today would appreciate.

“Gyms today are probably why our knees are all torn up,” he said.

In the classrooms, the team hopes to restore and preserve all of the blackboards.

The asbestos is removed, and windows are sitting in the school’s loading warehouse for replacing the broken ones.

“Even though it has lain open to the elements for so long, it has got good bones,” said John Skirven, Senior Services CEO. “We are a long way from complete, but we have made huge strides.”

As of late April, Skirven said there are 20 construction workers on site and many of them are local. Those who are not, though, are buying food, gas and paying fees in the city, and he said that will continue.

The senior center will create 45 new jobs in the area, as well as retain 40 full-time jobs. The phase I project of the building will add a new adult day health center; a wellness center; I-Ride Transit dispatch center; commercial office community; family practice medical office; African-American heritage museum and library; enrichment programs for the youth; a large multipurpose gym; full service restaurant and cafe; as well as a future phase II.

The center will be able to support 17 residential apartments for seniors and will have 37,727 square feet of rentable commercial space.

Of the $9.3 million price tag, the center has raised all but a portion of a $3.2 million capital campaign. Around $700,000 has been raised of that capital campaign to date, said Debbie Schwartz, director of development and community relations. The Obici Foundation gave a $500,000 grant; Franklin-Southampton Charities, $25,000; and the Hampton Roads Community Foundation two grants totaling $95,000.

Schwartz said she wanted to see the community take ownership of the Hayden Village Center and help with raising the remaining money.

“We feel like we are a part of the community, which was why it was so important to bring this project here,” she said. “We want everyone in the community to feel like the center is theirs; that it is something they can support.”

Currently, there is a brick campaign going for $100 per brick, in which a person or civic group can have dedicated for themselves or a loved one. The bricks will form a walkway to Della Hayden’s gravesite.

Schwartz said she also wanted to encourage groups to host fundraisers in the community to help complete the center, which will be an asset to the community.

Franklin’s mayor added that people are ready to support it.

“I’ve heard so many comments from people about the fact that work at Hayden is started,” Johnson-Ashburn said. “People are really excited about Hayden.”

For more information, or to inquire about fundraising, contact Schwartz or Skirvin at 757-461-9481.