The Greenman Senior Center in Binghamton has been closed for almost five months now following a heating system failure. City officials have been working since then to re-open the center, but it's remained closed. As our Elyse Mickalonis tells us, the city is now talking about a possible new future for the site.

  To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. -- The City of Binghamton is trying to tackle a problem.

"The Greenman Center is a piece of history,” said Lea Webb, (D) Binghamton City Council. “When the doors closed, we were trying to figure out what resources were available."

City officials met with the community Tuesday night to discuss the future of the Greenman Senior Center.

"We had to give some bad news. I've always hoped we could reopen it,” said Matt Ryan, (D) Binghamton Mayor.

The center on 37 Pine Street was closed last November for a heating system failure. Staff and resources were moved to the First Ward Senior Center on Clinton Street. Instead of reopening the building as a senior citizens center, city officials are talking about alternative proposals. One of which comes from Opportunities for Broome to turn the space into a commercial training kitchen.

"Ways to provide food to young people and train people for jobs,” said Ryan. “Make sure we can serve as many people as we can down the road."

But some people aren't happy about the news.

"I was hoping we would reopen the Greenman Center for seniors,” said Michael Jabo, Binghamton Resident. “I've been going there for many years now."

Since the close of the center last year, the city has been working to re-open it. But they said so far, the repair costs have been too high.

"We found out in November the heating system needed $200-thousand-dollars of repairs,” said Ryan. “Instead of having a vacant building and we can't afford to have two senior centers, we decided to look for other opportunities."

Still, no real choices have been made yet to re-purpose the building.