Leaders at Shipley Center gathered for possibly the first indoor groundbreaking ceremony in Sequim last week inside its forthcoming new facility at 651 W. Washington St.

Board directors and building committee members commemorated the occasion by scooping dirt and rocks with golden shovels on Feb. 6 along utility ditches recently dug out for the senior center.

“The board members and I are very happy and excited about the progress that is now underway with the renovations of our future home for Shipley Center,” said Board President Renee Millar in a statement. “Special thank you’s go out to all that have made this project become a reality. It is going to be a great addition to our community.”

Shipley Center’s board of directors agreed to purchase the former JCPenney building in June 2024 for $2.775 million with escrow closing in August 2024. The new facility nearly triples its current footprint of 11,000 square feet at 921 E. Hammond St. to 29,000 square feet.

Michael Smith, the center’s executive director and the new building’s project manager, said in a previous interview that the new building allows for more space and upwards of 10 activities going at once.

Mary Ellen Reed, an 86-year-old building committee member, said she’s been visiting and/or volunteering at the center for 20 years and had played canasta earlier in the day before going to the groundbreaking. She finds the possibilities of the new building to be wonderful.

“As we get older, we need to stay social,” she said. “We can’t be isolated.”

Some of the building’s amenities will include a new gymnasium for basketball, pickleball, and volleyball, a dance hall for all abilities and exercise classes, an art room, classroom, library, fiber arts room, a craft store, game rooms, and a new restaurant space for Leo’s Cafe with a private dining area, public dining area, and a large commercial kitchen.

As of last week, wall framing has begun, and the ditches were dug for water and sewer lines for central bathrooms. The center of the building will feature three bathrooms with five men’s and women’s fixtures/stalls in each bathroom, and one unisex bathroom.

There will also be a unisex bathroom in the gymnasium, and they’re keeping two fixtures/stalls in the men’s bathroom and three stalls in the women’s bathroom by the cafe.

Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash/ Near the former main entrance doors for JCPenney, an automatic sliding door will be installed along with several new large windows for the renovated Shipley Center.

Smith said the front entrance will feature an automated sliding glass door, and there will be large windows along a large portion of the north wall.

Smith wrote in his new Gazette column “Connectedness for the Ageless Generation” that they’ve set a goal to be inside the building by the center’s traditional Christmas dinner in December.

The building was last leased to JCPenney from 1994-2021, and was built in 1981 and occupied by Safeway before it moved across Washington Street.

The total renovation budget is about $2.5 million, Smith previously said, and he wrote in his column they seek to be under budget and on time.

Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash/ Inside the new Shipley Center building, the former JCPenney and Safeway, walls are being prepped for installation.

Once inside the renovated building, Smith has said they’d look to sell the current building and adjacent land previously planned for an annex.

The center was named after benefactor R. Leo Shipley who made large donations to the senior center and the Baywood Village mobile home park that the center now manages.

Anyone can join Shipley Center’s membership, but only people 50 and up can sit on the board and/or vote for board directors. Activities are also open to anyone, but members receive a 50% discount.

Membership costs $50 for one person, and $85 for any two people living at the same address.

To ask a question about membership, a tour of the building, and/or programming, call Shipley Center at 360-683-6806. For more information, visit shipleycenter.org.

Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash/ Shipley Center’s central bathrooms will feature three bathrooms with five men’s and women’s fixtures/stalls in each bathroom, and one unisex bathroom.

Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash/ Leo’s Cafe will be one of the many amenities at Shipley Center once renovations are finished. There will be a side door to the restaurant that once led to JCPenney’s salon.

Photo courtesy Shipley Center Shipley Center board president Renee Millar