From shabby to special in Pikesville

The Baltimore Sun

Cheryl Pruce says she will be spending a lot more time at the Pikesville Library.

"Before, it was a little shabby. It was just uninviting," the 21-year-old Owings Mills woman said yesterday while she used the library's wireless Internet on her laptop. "Now it's sort of Barnes and Noble-ish."

The library, and the senior center that shares the building, have undergone a $3.6 million expansion and renovation. Officials marked the completion of the nine-month project yesterday with a ceremony -- kicked off with a performance of "God Bless America" by the senior center's Harmonica Society.

The library and the senior center gained 3,500 square feet. With the space, the library added a children's activity and story room, a bigger browsing area for large-print books. The renovated library also has express checkout and return counters, new carpeting and shelves and two new computer stations.

The senior center on the floor above used the added room for a bigger lobby, more classrooms, and a 1,500-square-foot fitness center scheduled for completion in the fall.

"Everything they have done here is so beautiful," said Bess Harvey, 91, an Owings Mills resident and member of the senior center. "It's such a far cry from what it was."

The renovation of the 25-year-old building is part of a county initiative to revitalize downtown Pikesville.

While the senior center was temporarily moved shortly after the project began in October, the library has remained open through most of the construction. Service was interrupted for two weeks in January when the building closed so structural supports could be added.

In February, most of the collection was put in storage and other services were limited when construction forced the library to move into one of the building's meeting rooms.

"You couldn't spin around quickly or you would hurt someone," said Jim Fish, director of the Baltimore County Public Library.

The library, which grew from 18,000 square feet to 21,500 square feet, was the third-busiest in Baltimore County last year, with more that 530,000 visitors, according to a library spokesman.

With the renovations, the library can meet the space and technological needs of its customers, and is now one of the larger libraries in the county, said Fish.

During the construction, the senior center moved its programs and classes to three nearby buildings, the Weinberg House, Weinberg Terrace and Weinberg Gardens.

First operating out of a store front on Reisterstown Road in 1979, the center moved to its current location above the library in 1982 and now has more than 1,200 members.

The biggest addition to the senior center will be the fitness center. The room, which looks over Reisterstown Road and into the library, will be the seventh senior fitness center in Baltimore County.

"It's been a very popular program," said County Executive James T. Smith Jr. "It's important that as people get older they stay with exercise that's good for them."

The fitness center is scheduled to be completed in September.

Many of the senior center's members were excited to be back in the renovated building.

Jeanette Goldstein, 85, came to the reopening with her sister-in-law Ruth Needle, 88.

"I couldn't belive how big it is," said Goldstein, a Pikesville resident. "The whole building is magnificent."

Needle, who also lives in Pikesville and has been using the center for about 20 years, added: "I never would have dreamed it would be as beautiful as this."

The two women, both members of one of the center's social clubs, are excited about the new fitness center and plan to attend the exercise classes.

Marvin Sakin, 78, is looking forward to the new classes that the center is holding on digital photography.

"I'm very computer literate, but when it comes to that, forget it," said the Pikesville resident.

Sakin, a member of the Senior Center's Council and an avid user of the library, said that the building was much better than he had expected.

"This center, I think its going to be one of the best in the county," he said.

jenny.hopkinson@baltsun.com

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