Administration building on the mend

There may be a thin coat of dust on the floors at the Hendrickson Park administration building, but that is a sign that work is steadily progressing to get the recreation facility back in shape.

The building, which opened in 1966 and is located on the west side of the park, was damaged last August during a heavy rainfall. About three feet of water filled the building, coming up to the top of desks. The water destroyed walls, floors, supplies and paperwork. Village officials decided to permanently move the Recreation Department’s office to the Firemen’s Field clubhouse and renovate the Hendrickson Park building exclusively for community meeting space.

Tom McAleer, the village’s superintendent of the buildings, drew up plans for a refurbished administration building. With many of the old walls ripped down, McAleer could basically design the inside from scratch.

The renovated building will have four meeting rooms. The larger rooms at the north and south end of the building remain in tact. A group of offices to the right of the main entrance has been converted into a single room. The recreation counter, across from the main entrance, is gone. A new wall is in it’s place creating an additional meeting room.

The room at the north end of the building, which was added on in 1986, used to house the Silver Thread senior group. The room has been stripped down to its brick and cinder block walls which, unlike the old sheetrock walls, can’t be damaged by water if the building floods again. A new window is also being added, and a small kitchenette will be built.

That room is being used as the primary workspace for the village crews charged with repairing the building. It is filled with saws, ladders, plywood and tools. It’s where Jim Neil, the project’s foreman, spends much of his day.

Neil has worked for the village for 34 years. He spent time in the Sanitation and Highway departments before joining the Building Department eight years ago. “I’ve worked on big projects before,” he said, noting that he helped construct the police booth at Merrick Road and Arlington Avenue.

The construction at Hendrickson Park is progressing ahead of schedule, he said, which is no small feat considering the amount of work that needed to be done.

First, as many old walls came down, village crews had to put new supporting beams in the ceiling to ensure that the building was structurally sound. Then, new cinder block walls had to be built and new door frames put in. New electrical outlets were installed, followed by work on window sills and cabinets, along with some painting.

There are two big jobs left, Neil explained — the laying of a new floor and the installation of new ceilings.

“It’s going to look gorgeous when we’re doing with it,” he said. “People aren’t even going to recognize it.”

McAleer said that on a typical day, there are about a half-dozen workers in the building at a time. The specialized work is just about done. An masonry crew led by John Barbarino and electrical crew led by Brian Howley have mostly completed their jobs. Some light fixtures still need to be installed in the ceiling.

The entire building is being designed with the idea that it could flood again. All the walls will be cinder block, plaster or a waterproof wallboard, according to McAleer. All floors will either be terrazzo or have an epoxy coating and all electrical outlets, light switches and appliances will be at least three feet off the ground.

Recreation Director Tom Roberts said that when the building reopens, he will host several of his recreation programs at Hendrickson Park such as arts and crafts, woodworking and martial arts. He may even look into creating some new programs. Silver Threads will probably stay at Firemen’s Field, he explained, but he will probably move some of the card groups back to Hendrickson. His old office there is even being converted into a card room.

The Hendrickson Park building can’t re-open soon enough for Roberts. He said that participation in programs has declined since August, which he attributes directly to having to relocate activities to other facilities around Valley Stream. “So many programs that were successful at the administration building,” he said, “once I moved them, they were nothing.”

McAleer said that completion of the building is still at least a month away. When all the major construction is done and the dust settles, McAleer said it will get a fresh coat of paint and a thorough cleaning, before the village opens it back up to the public.