The Edward W. Corr Community Center and the residents of Liberty Gardens Apartments have something in common potential.

The center opened in May and eventually will house self-sufficiency programs that will help the residents of the 180-unit Liberty Gardens apartment complex become more independent, said Jim Baldwin, executive director of the Rome Housing Authority. The residents rent is subsidized by the federal government based on income.

The programs could be anything from a GED clinic to home-ownership classes, he said, but what is offered ultimately will be decided by the residents.

What well be doing later this summer is polling the tenants and saying, What kind of things would make sense? To the extent that we can make those things happen, we will, he said.

The center, co-located with the apartment complex at 200 N. Levitt St., already has been used for graduation parties, an afterschool reading class for elementary students and the Liberty Gardens Tenant Association meeting.

The new 6,000-quare-foot center offers a lab with 10 computers and Internet access, 1,600 square feet of meeting space for up to 272 people, and laundry and kitchen facilities.

The centers namesake, Edward Corr, has served on the Rome Housing Authoritys Board of Commissioners for more than 50 years and has been involved with Liberty Gardens since it was built in 1952. Corr, 94, currently serves as the boards treasurer.

The centers opening marked the completion of the $13.4 million first phase of renovations at Liberty Gardens, which also included the renovation of 60 rental units and building 18 new ones.

Phase two, the renovation of 50 units, is underway and should be completed by the fall, Baldwin said. The authority still is seeking funding for phase three, which will entail the renovation of the complexs remaining 52 units.

In all, the project will cost about $32 million, the bulk of which is being funded by federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits dispersed by the state, Baldwin said.

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Community center to benefit Liberty Gardens residents