Renovated Highland Park Senior Center sets Nov. 4 for reopening

With Highland Park Senior Center renovations nearing completion, officials with the organization addressed the City Council to gauge interest in changes regarding names or branding for the center.

The Highland Park City Council, which received the update on the senior center during its regular Committee of the Whole meeting on Monday, Sept. 9, primarily sided with the status quo as the facility gets closer to a reopening.

The senior center, which is operated by the City of Highland Park, moved into the former Highland Park Country Club building, 1201 Park Ave. West, in 2021. Renovations began in 2023, and senior center activities moved to Christ Our Hope Parish School.

Those renovations include the upper level, lower level, a new parking lot and a new east entrance.

Laura Frey, manager of senior services, told councilmembers on Monday that the renovations are expected to hit their upcoming milestone dates over the next month.

The reopening is set for Nov. 4, and all renovations should be done by then with the exception of the east entrance, which Frey said has been delayed until April 2025.

In her presentation to councilmembers, Frey shared an overview of the senior center’s operations, including that it has about 805 members.

Along with the presentation, Frey also asked councilmembers a series of policy questions:

• Should the senior center alter its minimum age (currently 50 years old) for membership;

• Should the senior center be renamed; and

• Should it adopt a new tag line?

Frey said a survey was sent out to the 1,800 people listed in the senior center’s database. The survey received 144 responses.

Of those responses, 80.9 percent said they did not want the senior center’s name to be changed, while 61 percent said the name “senior” resonated with them, followed by “active adult” at 48.2 percent.

When asked about a potential tag line, the results were more closely divided. Frey said, out of 20 ideas, 41.8% said they liked “For the mind, body and soul,” while 36.2% supported “Active community experience for seniors” and 32.6% backed “Community adult recreation, education/enrichment services.”

City Manager Ghida Neukirch said the tag line does not necessarily have to be adopted and is mostly intended to be used if the senior center’s name changed in order to describe the offerings.

“I don’t know if a tag line is needed, but we could still use it,” she said.

Councilmembers largely agreed with the survey results, opting to keep the name “Highland Park Senior Center” and supporting the tag line “For the mind, body and soul.”

“You’ve built this brand over many decades,” Mayor Nancy Rotering said regarding potentially changing the name, with other councilmembers agreeing that they were fine with leaving the name as-is.

There was also no support for raising the minimum age to participate in senior center activities. Frey said that, while there are currently only 14 senior center members who are between 50 and 59 – less than 2 percent of the membership – that number is expected to increase.

“Given how much we’ve invested in the senior center, I want more people to go to the senior center,” Councilmember Andrés Tapia said. “Why not open it up and be more inclusive in that way?”

The one discussion item councilmembers supported surveying the community for was the name of the event space at the senior center. The building is rented out for private events such as weddings and corporate events.

In the senior center member survey, 42.6 percent supported “Highland Woods,” while “The Moraine” had 26.2 percent support and “Harmony Creek” and “Heron’s Landing” both received 19.1 percent of the vote.

Councilmember Yumi Ross suggested selecting a few of the most popular names and putting them in a community-wide survey, with a write-in option also available, an idea that was supported by other councilmembers.

Neukirch said, to narrow down the options, she will send a survey to all councilmembers with all the names on the list.

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