AMHERST — A $2.8 million renovation of the Bangs Community Center that will continue for several more months is taking portions of the building offline, including the exhibit of the Civil War tablets that opened in the Pole Room in summer 2021.
The work at the 70 Boltwood Walk site, originally an intermediate school building, is being funded by American Rescue Plan Act money and is aimed at improving the health and safety of the Bangs through fire protection, such as a new sprinkler system, electrical and HVAC upgrades, and ensuring full access to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The project is having impacts on the various town departments housed there, including the Senior Center, Health Department and Veterans Services, which are all located on the main floor, the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) and Community Responders for Equity, Safety and Services (CRESS) departments on the upper level, and the Musante Health Center in the basement.
Town Manager Paul Bockelman said the Bangs Community Center is one of the town’s most heavily used buildings and notes that the work means an inconvenience, but he thanks staff and others for their cooperation and flexibility.
“These improvements will address some of the long outstanding issues to ensure the health and safety of those who use the building,” Bockelman said.
An immediate casualty of the work is the Civil War tablets, donated by the Grand Army of the Republic in 1893 to commemorate the more than 300 soldiers from the Amherst region who served in the Union forces. Those soldiers included the African Americans who served in the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment and 5th Calvary.
For nearly five years, an exhibit has been curated by Debora Bridges, a descendant of some of the soldiers. The exhibit, though, is expected to be relocated to the expanded and renovated Jones Library in 2027.
In the meantime, residents interested in the tablets and African American and Afro-Indigenous history are being referred to Ancestral Bridges on Cottage Street.
In addition to the impact on Senior Center programming, such as fitness classes and assorted other programs, the building also serves as a location for voting during elections, veterans breakfasts and municipal and community meetings.
The aim is to complete the work in multiple phases so disruption is limited. The first phase of work is underway in the lower and basement level of the building and will continue into early March.
The second phase of work will be on the second floor, requiring staff in the DEI and CRESS
departments to temporarily relocate to the lower level. That will last until the middle of June.
Then the work will be done at the Senior Center and Health Department, likely extending until the end of November.
Finally, the last work will include renovations of the Large Activity Room, which will likely last into January 2027.
The improvements were designed by edmSTUDIO with the assistance of Tighe & Bond, and work is being completed by Souliere & Zepka Construction.
The Bangs was created from a former intermediate school between 1976 and 1977.