Price Seniors Center

Background of the Price Seniors Center
On November 11, 2004, at the annual meeting of the Texas Downtown Association at the Hilton Hotel in College Station, Texas, the H.Y. Price, Jr., Seniors Center, San Marcos, Texas, received recognition as the most outstanding “adaptive reuse” property in the state of Texas. This was a high point in the five year rehabilitation program of the Price Seniors Center being carried out by the Greater San Marcos Area Seniors Association, Inc. The Association operates the Price Seniors Center (the former First Christian Church of San Marcos) under the terms of a thirty-year lease (renewable) with the City of San Marcos, record owner of the property. To date, over $400,000 in rehab expenses have been achieved by the Association.
The building complex was donated to the city of San Marcos by philanthropist H.Y. Price, Jr., by deed dated May 23, 1994, for use as “youth and/or senior citizen activity programs.” The City Council began periodic deliberations with the newly incorporated Greater San Marcos Are Seniors Association, Inc., with a final lease being signed on December 31, 1998, with the Association assuming all renovation responsibilities.

Goals
In general, the Association’s mission idea was to emphasize intergenerational activities rather than to create an enclave for traditionally narrowly defined senior citizen programs. The larger community was to benefit from the seniors’ plan. A motto was
adopted which expressed this view: “A part of the community rather than apart from it.” The idea was that the seniors would devise and sponsor activities and building uses from which the entire citizenry, across age or demographic categories, would benefit.

Tea Room Opens
This goal took definitive shape in September 2001 when the Association opened the “Price Center Tea Room,” offering gourmet lunches three days a week, prepared by a retired chef, Joyce Kidd, with extensive restaurant experience. This chef also became a caterer for numerous groups, clubs, businesses and civic organizations that were willing to make a reasonable donation for the use of the building as the renovations proceeded.

1893 Chapel Renovated
The original 1893 small church building, now merely a wing of the complex, was rehabilitated as a memorial chapel in which numerous varied groups met. This format successfully produced revenue for the Association with which to expand its
programming and thereby qualify for further renovation funding from the city’s CDBG funds, from the county, United Way, private foundations, businesses and individual donations, large and small.

1910 Sanctuary Remodeled
The 1910 former church sanctuary addition has been completely gutted and reconfigured, with salvaged windows and embossed metal ceiling, as an auditorium/theatre/meeting room. There, the Association’s own programs are offered as well as the room being used as a venue for community organizations, such as service clubs, various university organizations, lectures, DVD movies and Association luncheons. The revenue derived from such uses has made it possible for the Association to carry forward its designated mission which continually necessitates increasing renovation.

Onward and Upward!
Currently, rehabilitation is underway on the second floor of the building, including installation of an elevator, its exterior and grounds. Our expectation is that our “track record” will justify significantly larger grants so as to enable the remainder of our renovation to proceed more quickly than the past proving period which moved much more deliberately as we built public confidence in this work for the public benefit.