Senior Center Space Problems Won't Be Solved by Tsakalos

By MARY STANLEY
For five years, the Council on Aging has been on a roller coaster ride of hope followed by disappointment in getting a new senior center built in town.
And it seems that the ride continues.
Last month, developer Thomas Tsakalos, who owns an undeveloped 23.87-acre commercial property along Cotuit Road that is adjacent to the 58 acres of land inside the so-called Golden Triangle property, met with the council on aging’s board of directors to discuss the possibility of building a senior center on that property. “The meeting went well, but Tom didn’t promise anything,” said Regina T. Peters, chairman of the board of directors.
Mr. Tsakalos purchased this property from Shaw’s Supermarkets, which, with Tedeschi Realty, were planning to develop the property and build, among other things, a new senior center for the town. 
Mr. Tsakalos said he did not make any promises to the COA’s board of directors because he is not even sure what, if anything, he will develop on that property. 
“The numbers don’t match up,” he said in a telephone interview this week. Mr. Tsakalos explained that given today’s material costs and the expenses associated with a Cape Cod Commission review, he is unsure if it is even feasible to move forward with developing the property, let alone building a new senior center for the town.
“It would cost $22 million to develop that. I am 61 years old and I don’t know if I want to strap myself with a mortgage like that,” he said. He added that it seems more profitable to develop land in other towns that do not require a commission review. “I wish I could do it the old-fashioned way. I understand we need to protect the land here, but the protection has become too expensive,” he said.
Council on Aging Director Janet A. Timmons said that it is getting more and more difficult to continue to accommodate the growing number of seniors at the Human Services Building. And this segment of the population will only continue to grow, especially as the baby boomer generation heads toward retirement. The 5,000-square-foot building, which is used for programs, activities, and services for seniors as well as office space for employees, is getting more stretched by the year.
Some four years ago, the COA’s board of directors investigated an option to build a new facility on a seven-acre parcel of town-owned land located directly across from the Human Services building on Quaker Meetinghouse Road
The board even went so far as to apply for an $800,000 grant from the state that would help fund the project, but the grant was denied. Ms. Timmons said a grant review team came out to look at the land and decided it was not centrally located and that the town lacked public transportation for seniors to get to the center.
But, then, Tedeschi Realty had included plans to build an 18,000-square-foot senior center on its property and so the council pinned its hopes on that plan. Those hopes were dashed when the parcel of land was sold.
Then, when Meetinghouse Village Development Group, the winning bidder on the 58-acre parcel of land inside the Golden Triangle put forward its proposal, it, too, contained plans to build a shell of a senior center, with the town footing the bill to complete the interior of the structure. However, when the town asked the developers to fine-tune the plans, the group came back with a proposal to build a complete center. But that was some two years ago, and moving forward with signing the paperwork on the real estate transaction now hinges on the town completing its Local Comprehensive Plan, a kind of master plan for the town’s commercial and residentially zoned properties. This plan will include any necessary zoning changes. 
Mr. Tsakalos said he will have to wait until that plan is completed and the zoning changes are approved by voters at Town Meeting before deciding what he will do with his newly acquired Cotuit Road property. As a developer in town, Mr. Tsakalos has attended the local comprehensive plan meetings and said that, in as much as he agrees with the concept of what is being proposed for the entire piece of commercial property that runs between Cotuit Road and Route 130, he is unsure if he will be able to move forward with plans to develop his parcel. He said it would cost double what it costs to develop some of his other properties and, given the state of the economy, he is not sure if that is the wise thing to do right now. “Businesses are barely making it in this sluggish economy. If I don’t see very clearly that it is the right thing to do, I’m not going to take the jump,” he said.
Mr. Tsakalos added that he may just hold on to the property and let his son, somewhere down the road, decide whether to develop it.
And so the Council on Aging and its board of directors will continue to wait and hope that somehow, either the town, or a developer, will make the dream of a new senior center a reality. 
“We’re still hoping somebody can come through with building a senior center, but we’re not holding our breath,” Ms. Peters said.