We recently caught up with Chief Operations Officer Robert Scott and slowed him down long enough to ask about the current men’s shower renovation and find out what else is in the proverbial — and literal! — pipeline…
LJCC: Inconsistent hot water in the showers has been an off-and-on issue for a while. Will this project address that?
Robert: Yes. Addressing the hot water issues in the locker rooms is a two-step process and we will complete the first step during the locker room renovations.
The locker rooms need localized hot water heaters, but currently the heat exchangers servicing those showers are in our boiler room located more than 200 feet away, and they are not plumbed with a recirculation system. During the current renovation we will repurpose our locker room mechanical closets and reroute the plumbing lines to house dedicated and localized water heaters, which we aim to install once the plumbing is complete and the mechanical rooms are repurposed.
We still hear lots of love for the higher-pressure old shower heads in the men’s showers. Are shower heads up for replacement with this project?
The old shower heads were Speakman Icon and they were admittedly pretty great. And yes — we plan to re-replace them during the current project.
I’d made the decision to replace the heads in hopes that more restrictive fixtures would help resolve the hot water issue. The gallons-per-minute range of a Speakman Icon shower head tops out at the federal maximum of 2.6 GPM. As you can imagine, even with new localized hot water heaters planned (see previous question), it may be hard to keep up with high demand if those showers are run fully open for prolonged periods of time. Our water bill alone for February was nearly $18,000! So when we go back to the old shower heads… please be reasonable about how long you enjoy that water pressure!
Did we hear correctly that individual stalls will be… installed?
Yes! Currently the shower layouts in both the men’s locker rooms are communal. With this renovation we will be converting the showers in the men’s primary locker rooms to private stalls. The women’s locker room showers are already designed as private stalls, so the renovations in that space will encompass far less of a scope.
Converting the men’s showers to private stalls is the largest part of this project.
What’s the plan for the somewhat unsightly pits that were the men’s and women’s whirlpools?
The current plan is simply to fill in and tile over both of the whirlpools and remove the abandoned and defunct mechanical equipment to those systems. This will set us up to complete the hot water project mentioned before and dream about future projects in our sauna and steam room areas of both locker rooms…
What’s the current timeline for other projects — like the fitness floor, restrooms, women’s locker room, etc.?
Allow me to speak in bullet points:
- Work on the women’s whirlpool will not start until after we really get moving with the men’s locker room demolition. That should not start for a few more weeks and it will take a few weeks to complete.
- The timeline for the Fitness Floor upgrades are still being determined by the floor and equipment installers. This work will happen over summer and will include some new equipment, new flooring throughout, extensive painting, and bathroom upgrades.
- The bathrooms across from the Senior Lounge will be upgraded on the heels of the Fitness Floor bathrooms. These upgrades will include new partitions, counters, lighting, fixtures, and painting. This will also take place over summer.
- The six new pickleball courts were just finished along with resurfacing two of the remaining four tennis courts. The two remaining tennis courts are being resurfaced this week.
- Despite our best efforts, plans and permits for the back courtyard patio are still being finalized. Most of the delay has been due to the location of utilities located in the courtyard, but I’m confident we have a plan we can act on in the coming weeks. This project is tethered to upgrades we have already started in the library, including new window treatments, paint, furniture, and lighting, plus courtyard access from the library.
So we’ve got much to look forward to! We simply ask for your grace, patience, and understanding as we strive to minimize the disruptions caused by these myriad projects — and I’m hoping we can all look forward to a much-improved member experience here at The J.
