Lincolnia Senior Center programs to be relocated during renovation

All programs and activities underway at the Lincolnia Senior Center are being relocated to other facilities so the facility can be renovated. The center is closing temporarily on June 22

Many programs – including aerobics, ballroom dancing, line dancing, table tennis, and zumba – are moving to the James Lee Community Center. The book club, arthritis exercise, Spanish conversation, and other activities are moving to the Bailey’s Community Center. Other activities are being relocated to the Little River Glen Senior Center, Wakefield Senior Center, or other facilities.

The senior residences at Lincolnia, with the senior center on the right.

The Lincolnia senior complex, on North Chambliss Street in Lincolnia, consists of three separate facilities: housing for seniors, a senior center, and an adult daycare center, and all of them are undergoing renovation. The project started a year ago.

The Lincolnia Senior Center, operated by the Fairfax County Department of Neighborhood and Community Services, is getting a new heating and air conditioning system and cosmetic improvements. Construction is expected to start in July, and the project should be substantially completed by the end of November and finished by early 2016, says Ashley Montgomery, of the Fairfax County Department of Housing and Community Development.

Chanticleer Hill has lived in an assisted-living unit at Lincolnia for four years.

The Senior Center provides classes, health and wellness programs, computer and internet access, trips, and social activities for active adults age 55 and older.

The Lincolnia Adult Day Health Care Center serves about 20 people who can’t be left home alone without supervision. While that facility is being renovated, the clients have been relocated to the dining room in the senior center.

Table tennis in the Lincolnia Senior Center.

That adult day center is under capacity and will be able to absorb some clients from the Annandale Adult Day Health Care Center, when it closes later this year, due to cuts in the Fairfax County budget.

Final inspections for the senior housing and adult day health care facilities are tentatively scheduled for completion by the end of this month, says Montgomery. If all goes well, staff and residents should be back in the building by the end of July.

The renovated dining room in the Lincolnia Center.

The residential facility includes two types of senior housing: assisted-living units and independent-living units.

There are 26 independent-living efficiency apartments with kitchenettes for people who can take care of themselves and do their own cooking and cleaning. Those units, reserved for lower-income people, have subsidized rent so no one pays more than 30 percent of their income.

Renovation of independent-living units are about 95 percent finished, says Charles Woznak, executive director of Lincolnia Senior Residences. Those units are getting new kitchen facilities, as well as new air conditioning. During the work, residents have been relocated to other county properties, and some have been housed in a local hotel.

The courtyard at the Lincolnia Center.

There are 26 assisted-living units, with two people per-room, for people 62 and older and people with disabilities 58 and older. Meals are provided, and there is a nurse on site 40 hours a week.

Those people have been moved to independent-living apartments on other floors in the Lincolnia center while their rooms are being renovated.

There is space for 52 residents in the assisted-living units but there are only 17 people there now. That’s because the facility stopped admitting new people until the work is done.

The renovations are needed because the building is aging and its heating and air conditioning systems were  failing, Woznak said. “No one was freezing and no one was baking,” but the system needed to be replaced so it was a good time to also bring the building up to date. The exterior won’t change, except for some painting.

The Lincolnia senior complex is the only facility in Fairfax County that has residences, a senior center, and an adult day center in one place.