Century Looks For $13 Million To Renovate Old CHS Gym, Fix Bridges

March 14, 2023

Century is looking to seek $10 million to renovate an old gym and $3 million for bridge and drainage repairs.

The town is eligible to apply for state funding for the projects.

A $10 million grant award would be used to renovate or rebuild the old Century High School gymnasium for use as a multipurpose facility that could also serve as a hurricane or other disaster shelter. Century High closed over 25 years ago; the 16,500 square foot building was constructed in 1960.

The town will also seek $3 million to replace a failed bridge on Freedom Road that has been closed for three years, and make drainage improvements to two other bridges that suffered embankment erosion during Hurricane Sally.

The funding, if awarded, would be from Florida Department of Economic Opportunity Small Cities Hurricane Sally Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery funding. through the Rebuild Florida Infrastructure Repair Program.

The town is currently soliciting public comment on the proposed projects by email to Kristina Wood at kwood@centuryflorida.us or by calling Century Town Hall at (850) 256-3208.The deadline is March 20. At 7 p.m. on March 21, a public hearing will be held at Century Town Hall.

NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.

Comments

19 Responses to “Century Looks For $13 Million To Renovate Old CHS Gym, Fix Bridges”

  1. C Thomas on March 17th, 2023 12:30 am

    Century use to be such a thriving city. It has went down ever since they closed the high school back in 95’..so sad

  2. Taylon on March 16th, 2023 1:45 pm

    I’ll do the work on the building for only $8 million. See I’m already willing to save the town money. My very professional(ish) steps are below:

    Step 1. Tear down old building
    Step 2. Pour giant cement slab
    Step 3. Pay someone to put up a big metal building
    Step 4. Pocket remaining money and take a vacation

    Hopefully, Banks Construction doesn’t underbid me.

  3. Confused on March 15th, 2023 3:22 pm

    @SMW your argument doesn’t really make sense… let’s talk about “thugs and speeding”… wasn’t there a shooting that took place at whataburger in century?(very popular hangout spot for kids. Didn’t someone get ran over by a vehicle on 29/4? To say speeding and thugs are only on that street is amusing. Why replace briggs blvd? Whats so special about it? No thugs or speeding is on that road? Or it could be that’s a road u live/travel on frequently. Incase of an emergency, a speeding Cop or a speeding ambulance can’t cross that bridge…just food for thought

  4. Chris on March 15th, 2023 3:07 pm

    Spending that sum on a 60 year-old building is symbolic of throwing good money at Century.

  5. SMW on March 15th, 2023 12:55 pm

    We do not want the bridge open! The children of Century are safer as long as the bridge is closed due to all the speeding and thugs that fly down that road. Century needs cleaning up! How about paving Jefferson from Hwy 4 to the waste water station and pave Briggs Blvd where the road is deteriorating rapidly.
    DO NOT OPEN THE BRIDGE ON FREEDOM!!!

  6. D. Flowers on March 14th, 2023 11:26 pm

    That town might be better off declaring their independence as a sovereign nation, going to war against the U.S., capitulating right away before any shots are fired, asking for a Marshall Plan to rebuild and then asking for help in reestablishing a Western style democracy. I see no less than half a billion being tossed their way.

  7. IMHO on March 14th, 2023 7:07 pm

    Didn’t the town get funding to rehab the community center?? Nothing has been done there…..

  8. CK on March 14th, 2023 3:14 pm

    They tried saving the old middle school in Atmore to use for events, and look what happened, there was a shooting spree. I don’t see how this would turn out any different.

  9. Reader on March 14th, 2023 12:57 pm

    Why does century need its own shelter for $10 million? Northview High School is a shelter. What about Cantonment and the village? No shelter there.

  10. Safebear on March 14th, 2023 12:54 pm

    It’s not as simple as tearing down the old gym but I’m with the rest of y’all – what are they going to do with it anyway. They can’t just tear it down because it was built in 1960 and has been closed for 25 years. There is no telling how much asbestos and lead are in that building that will have to be remediated before it can be demolished and that is not cheap. Fix the bridges and roads.

  11. Swamp Gas on March 14th, 2023 10:14 am

    Just like my ex wife, Century has champagne taste on a beer budget.

  12. Constance M Brookhart on March 14th, 2023 9:35 am

    I don’t really want to see the bridge open, traffic will be so much worse on Jefferson. what will the Gym be used for? If it’s not going to be beneficial to the people in Century, why not just take it down? Seems like a lot of dollars for nothing.

  13. sam on March 14th, 2023 9:08 am

    we’re talking century here. the way that gym looks now would be the same in a year or so. the bridges need to be repaired.

  14. RaD on March 14th, 2023 8:47 am

    Why would you spend $10M to renovate a 60 year old gymnasium. That is ridiculous. Should have been torn down years ago.

    Does a town with only 1700 residents need a 16,500 sq ft meeting space? That is also ridiculous. I remember reading on NorthEscambia they had recently done work on a multipurpose facility, possibly 2 of them. If they need another, which is doubtful, I am positive it doesn’t need to be big enough to hold the entire city.

    As far as grants to help with road and bridge repairs and drainage. Great idea. Should have been applying for those 3 years ago when the bridge went out and the road was closed.

    I feel the need to repeat it one more time. Century needs to rescind their city charter and move back to county control.

  15. JJ on March 14th, 2023 7:32 am

    Demolish the old and build- NOTHING…
    CENTURY HAS MORE PROBLEMS THAN THIS!!!! AND IGNORES THE SERIOUS ONES!!!!!

  16. Marty Byrde on March 14th, 2023 7:01 am

    is Century a real town?

    There should be a reality show based on Century guv’ment…

  17. Century resident on March 14th, 2023 6:35 am

    Why is the town of Century trying to fix up the old gym? Doesn’t that belong to PSC?

  18. Jason on March 14th, 2023 4:19 am

    IMHO, the $10 million dollars to rehab a 60-year old building doesnt sound like a good use of taxpayer dollars. Then again, they may be asking for twice what is needed hoping to get some money from the “free money pot”.

    I would think it would be better to spend some money to raze the current structure and maybe spend $3 to $4 million building a new structure.

  19. Confused on March 14th, 2023 2:55 am

    Seems like century wants to find money for everything … except for the bridge that’s been closed for 3yrs. If u ask me sounds like ppl on the boards just wants to pocket a little extra money. All these grants century gets but everything looks exactly the same

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News