The Senior Center, aka The Commons, may get a new name

Whatever you call it, the city's waterfront community center may soon be getting a name change.

What is currently referred to as the Bainbridge Island Senior Community Center, and sometimes The Commons, is owned by the city of Bainbridge Island and is occupied by the island's senior community.

Located on Brien Drive and neighboring Waterfront Park, it was originally two separate structures. One of the buildings housed the senior center.

The buildings were connected to form one center in the early 1990s. Before it was called the Bainbridge Island Senior Community Center, the area was known as the Bainbridge Island Community Commons.

"There was The Commons and the Senior Center and the Health District," said Jane Allan, director of the senior center.

The health district is no longer at the site.

Over the years the combined building has been referred to by a few variations based on names from its past.

The senior center community felt that the variety of names posed some confusion for the public.

"You would say The Commons and people would think of the high school commons," Allan said.

With the recent remodel of the center, many senior center members thought an official name change was in order to reflect the site as a whole.

"Now that we've renovated, we think of it holistically," Allan said.

Board members for the Bainbridge Island Senior Community Center talked about changing the title of the building last month, and by a unanimous vote, the board decided to change the name to the Waterfront Park Community Center.

On Wednesday, the city council will consider making the new name official.

The new moniker comes as the remodel of the building continues.

The center has had a facelift with new siding, windows, roofing and sidewalks. Work on the flooring is underway. Electrical work and updated plumbing is also planned.

The renovations are expected to be completed by November.

Contact Bainbridge Island Review Staff Writer Richard D. Oxley at roxley@bainbridgereview.com or (206) 842-6613.

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