This fall, Mount Si Senior Center cook James Lee has been treating his diners to meals on the road, cooking meals in the Si View Community Center kitchen.

Lee’s regular kitchen is undergoing its first-ever renovation in the center’s history, as part of a $428,000 remodel paid for through federal and King County Community Development block grants.

The center was purpose-built 30 years ago to serve local seniors. The multipurpose room was added in 1993.

While the kitchen refrigerator was replaced, the rest of the appliances are the originals, Senior Center Director Ruth Tolmasoff said.

Construction workers took Lee’s kitchen down to bare walls, removing the old griddle and residential stove, preparing to replace all appliances with state-of-the-art, energy-efficient models.

The remodel improves Lee’s ability make healthy, hot meals for seniors.

“It means a lot for me to see to it that things are done in a healthy way at the center,” Lee said.

The center’s lunch program now serves between 20 and 30 people per day.

The center’s multipurpose room is also getting a new floor, its old tiles replaced by vinyl flooring.

The room will also be getting a new soundproof divider, allowing the center to get more flexibility out of the space.

Typically, the center’s Huff and Puff senior exercise class holds its morning routine in the space. The weekly group has been doing its stretches and bends in the center’s dining room for weeks.

“It helps keep everybody moving,” said Gretchen Wilson, Huff and Puff leader.

Wilson and her charges tired of the soiled, cracked multipurpose room floor. The remodeled space will be a better place for a morning workout.

“We can hardly wait to get back over there,” Wilson said.

Likewise, as his kitchen remodel wraps up this winter, Lee is looking forward to serving lunch again at Mount Si.

“I’m ready to be back in there,” he said.

Next up, the center is seeking funds to replace its 20-year-old carpets and old flooring in the hall and bathrooms.

The next project will not be as disruptive or expensive, Tolmasoff said.