The Buckingham Herald Tribblog: House to Be Fitness/Business Center

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

House to Be Fitness/Business Center

As reported last week in this space, the house at 374 N. Glebe Rd. will become a fitness center. I emailed Catherine Bucknam just a few more questions about use of the space and who’s paying. Ms. Bucknam is a spokesperson for AHC, Inc., which owns the house. My queries and her responses are below.

HeraldTrib: The house is going to be a fitness center now, right?
Catherine Bucknam (AHC, Inc.): Yes, it’s going to be a fitness center for the residents. There will also be a business center in this space where residents can check email, send faxes, etc.

HT: That frees space in the new community center that had been planned to be a fitness center--what will that space be used for? CB: The extra space in the community center will be used for classrooms for AHC’s Resident Services program.

Drawings of the community center under construction.

HT: Who will have access to the fitness center, and will it be a paid membership, or free?
CB: Residents only at the fitness center. Don’t know if there will be a charge or not.

HT: Who is paying for the renovation of that building. Is there county, state or federal money involved?
CB: Renovations to the building are financed through the original construction loan for Gates of Ballston renovation.

HT: I thought part of the problem with that building--a main reason why it did not become the community center--was the lack of ADA accessibility. Has something changed?
CB: Originally we were planning to tear this building down because it is quite small and not conducive to the large community center we envisioned. The new community center was going to be built in this area. When the Historical Affairs and Landmark Review Board informed AHC that we could not tear this building down, we had to figure out a use for this space.