Last of offices closes at Buttonwoods Center

The lights were still on and the doors open Tuesday at the Buttonwoods Community Center, but Melanie LaMountain of Westbay Community Action was the only person in the building. She wouldn’t be staying long.

Chairs and desks used for the agency’s Adult Education Academy had been moved to corners of rooms and boxes were piled in the corridor. LaMountain’s own office reflected the profusion of moving.

The academy runs morning and afternoon sessions Monday through Thursday. As of May, the academy will be operating from the third floor class space at the New England Institute of Technology at 2480 Post Road. LaMountain is happy with the space as it is on a bus stop and the academy was able to keep the same phone number.

While waiting for the availability of NEIT, the academy is operating from the Westbay administrative offices and conference room on Buttonwoods Avenue.

Comprehensive Community Action Program (CCAP) Warwick/Buttonwoods Skills & Youth Center has not only relocated from the former community center but also has a new name.

As of Monday the skills and youth center opened as the Learn to Earn Kent County Youth Center in Cowesett Plaza, 289 Cowesett Ave., West Warwick.

The two community action-based programs were the last to relocate from the Buttonwoods Center that served as the Buttonwoods elementary school for many years. The former school was renovated and expanded as the Buttonwoods Senior Center opening in 1992 and for a while it was one of three senior centers operated by the city along with Pilgrim, the newest, and JONAH in Oakland Beach. After the kitchen was closed at Buttonwoods, the center was transformed into a community center. Some senior card leagues and bingo continued to use the center and in addition to housing the Westbay and CCAP programs the city’s Department of Human Services was located in the center. The center was also used from community meetings and as a polling location.

The future of Buttonwoods is uncertain.

Citing operational and capital improvement costs, Mayor Scott Avedisian moved to close the center earlier this year. The plan met resistance from seniors using the facility and the City Council that unanimously passed a resolution calling to keep it open while exploring means to enhance rental revenues and underwrite the cost of repairs.

Ward 7 Councilman Steve McAllister, who introduced the resolution, followed up with a meeting with the mayor, but was unsuccessful in altering the plan to close the center as of March 31.

“I was hoping they would get a three-month extension on their [Westbay] lease to give us more time to look for ways to keep Buttonwoods open,” McAllister wrote in an email Wednesday.

McAllister said he received an email late last week from the FAA agreeing to put their new tower at Buttonwoods, which he and City Council President Joseph Solomon had suggested as a means of enhancing revenues.

“However, with the City's plan to close the building and sell it, I do not think that is an option any longer. That would have brought in additional revenue to the City which could have been used for upkeep on the building,” McAllister wrote.

“It is disappointing the Buttonwoods Community Center is just going to sit there empty and not be utilized for the foreseeable future,” McAllister writes.

Chief of Staff David Picozzi said Wednesday the city is seeking to engage an appraiser to value the property and that it will soon advertise for requests for proposals for its sale and future use. Sale of the property will require City Council approval.

One of those interested in acquiring the property is Westbay Community Action. Westbay president-CEO Paul Salera said yesterday he had expressed his interest in acquiring the building that he would have used for the Westbay Marketplace to Avedisian but nothing ever came of his inquiry. Given a projection of $250,000 in renovations and upgrades, Salera said he was prepared to offer $350,000 to $400,000 for the property. Salera said he suggested Westbay continue operations through June at Buttonwoods, but that also went nowhere.

“They wanted it shut,” he said. “In my eyes the building will never reopen.”

The relocated CCAP center is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and on Tuesday and Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. The center assists youth ages 14 to 24 through free education, training programs, work readiness and job placement assistance. Services are provided to youth either enrolled in school or out of school. All enrollees are assigned a case manager who assists with their education and employment goals. The program also offers cash assistance and free bus tickets to those qualifying.

Salera said the Westbay program that graduated 31 last year is open to people 16 years old and older. He said the oldest person to complete the GED program was 72 years old.

He said the fact that the NEIT space won’t be immediately available has complicated operations as the program is sharing conference room space with Westbay administration. Some programming will be shifted to the Warwick Public Library, he said.

“We have to do what we have to do,” he said.

Rental income from CCAP and Westbay totaled about $30,000 a year, less than half annual operational costs according to the administration. The administration put capital improvements at $400,000.

Mayor Avedisian said yesterday if the property sells, “Whatever we derive from the sale would go to pay long term debt.”