Foley Leaders Approves Building New Senior Center
By Isabella Gomez
Blue RAM Media/Gulf Coast News
April 7, 2026
FOLEY, Ala. With the continued growth of Foley, the city continues to upgrade services and make major improvements on public buildings including a new senior citizen complex that has been approved.
Foley City Council voted to seek proposals for the design of a new senior center building, marking the next step in a long-discussed effort to expand services for the city’s older population.
David Thompson, Foley’s executive director of leisure services, said officials had previously explored repurposing the current library building once a new library opens later in 2026. After evaluating that option, the city determined that renovating the library would be less practical than building a new facility tailored to senior services.
Nationally, our population is ageing and we’re giving them the quality of life that they deserve and it’s something that would benefit Foley.
The current building is heavily used and at times it’s overloaded, said Mayor Ralph Hellmich.
The current senior center on East Rose Avenue offers about 7,000 square feet of space, which city officials say no longer meets the needs of a growing senior population or the increasing demand for programs and services.
We thought that the library could work, but after looking at that building, we found that it would require a lot of excess money to change the use of that building. It’s by far better to do a purpose-built building where you get better bang for your buck and then keep the old library for other uses, the mayor said.
Hellmich said a potential location for the new facility is near the former National Guard armory behind City Hall. The armory is undergoing renovations and is expected to house new city offices and recreation facilities later this year, creating what officials envision as a centralized hub for municipal and community services.
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