By SUE SUCHYTA
Times-Herald Newspapers
HEIGHTS – Mayor Mo Baydoun confirmed the possible closure of the Berwyn Senior Center as a cost-savings measure, with programs consolidated at the Canfield Center, during the Oct. 6 city council meeting.
The city council will hold a study session on the possible closing in the council chambers at Dearborn Heights City Hall, 6045 Fenton, following a 5 p.m. closed session special city council meeting on an unrelated topic.
The mayor said Oct. 6 that the city may consolidate all of its Berwyn senior services at the Canfield Center, with the two buildings just over a mile apart.
The Berwyn Senior Citizen Center is at 26155 Richardson Street, while the Canfield Community Center is at 1801 N. Beech Daly Road.
Baydoun said Meals of Wheels, arts and crafts, bingo and other programs would remain, but would be consolidated at the Canfield Center.
“Some tough decisions are going to have to be made,” he said. “To operate that building is a little over $200,000, there are a ton of repairs that have to happen, and there is also some testing that is being done and it is a very unhealthy building.”
The Berwyn Center was built in 1958 as an elementary school for the Crestwood District. In 1979, the city of Dearborn Heights began leasing it as a senior center, then later transferred ownership of the building to the city.
Baydoun said the Berwyn Center has had very little maintenance done to the building over the years.
“We don’t have the financial means, hundreds of thousands of dollars, to repair the center,” he said. “In 2006, the center had a little over 400 members, and in 2026, we have an active 49 members.”
Baydoun said, on average, 31 seniors attend on a daily basis.
The mayor said he knows closing the Berwyn Center will not be a popular decision, but he prefers to be transparent about the tough decisions. The closure will ultimately be decided by the city council.
Baydoun said the Canfield Center is financially sustainable and is safer for the city’s seniors.
The mayor said the Eton Senior Center, 4900 Pardee, on the city’s south side, sees 100 to 120 seniors daily.
Baydoun said he realizes that many seniors have cherished memories from the Berwyn Center, and he realizes that he could put off a decision and cover the operating costs through the city’s general fund, but a tough decision about the center really needs to be made.
Councilmember Nancy Bryer said she believes the attendance at the Berwyn Center is higher, especially if you include the people who go there to take bus trips.
She said she doesn’t believe there is enough room at the Canfield Center to accommodate all of the activities currently at the Berwyn Center.
Bryer said she wonders if the Berwyn library can be moved to the Canfield Center.
Baydoun reiterated that it is easier for them to agree to keep the Berwyn Center open, but he also noted that the Canfield Center is not being used much from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays.
Bryer mentioned the recent kitchen work and new windows that were installed at the Berwyn Center.
Baydoun said the city’s Community and Economic Development group and the Communications Department have been moved out of the Berwyn Center, and the pension board will be moving out as well.
“The truth is, I don’t want to, I really don’t,” he said. “But that does not mean that we are going to go backwards; it just means that we are going to have to find other solutions.”
Baydoun said they didn’t want the city’s firefighters to be in a building with unsafe conditions, so by the same logic they should not keep seniors in a building similarly unsafe.
Councilmember Denise Malinowski-Maxwell said a lot of seniors walk from their homes to the Berwyn Center, so she wondered if transportation could be provided from the Berwyn Center to the Canfield Center.
She also suggested seeing if Community Development Block Grant money could be used to make repairs to the Berwyn Center, since it paid for new windows about five years ago.
Malinowski-Maxwell said she is concerned that a vacant Berwyn Center might be vandalized, and could become an eyesore to the neighborhood.
“At least it’s got life right now,” she said.
Malinowski-Maxwell said she doesn’t think the Canfield Center has enough room to accommodate all the activities that are currently offered at the Berwyn Center.
Baydoun said that the Canfield Center has a brand-new kitchen that can be utilized by the Meals on Wheels providers.
Malinowski-Maxwell said there are restoration companies that specialize in remediating unsafe conditions in buildings.
Councilmember Hassan Saab said that mold in old buildings can be a serious problem.
Councilmember Robert Constan recalled many of the building problems that have occurred over the years at the Berwyn Center, and said that the building may be beyond its useable life, and has some strong environmental problems.