CANTON — The Cherokee County Senior Center on Univeter Road will soon undergo a makeover.

The center’s staff is temporarily relocating to various facilities so renovations can begin at the center.

Nathan Brandon, director of senior services, said the renovations would include a new dining room and kitchen for its congregate program, a separate staging kitchen for its Meals on Wheels program and additional space for administrative staff.

The county Board of Commissioners awarded a bid to Gay Construction and its team, which included Clark Patterson Lee, to perform the renovations for $212,000 in August.

The county has budgeted $1.2 million in Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax and Community Development Block Grant funds for the project.

Brandon said staff is in the process of moving out of the building. The congregate program has been using space at the Mimms Boys & Girls Club until 2 p.m. each day. On Nov. 10, more staff will move into space at the Cherokee Area Transportation System offices, and on Nov. 14, Meals on Wheels operations will move to First Baptist Church of Canton.

Brandon said renovations are set to begin full swing in January and could be completed by May 30, 2012.

The space is needed as the senior center because its program has expanded exponentially, the director said.

The center on Univeter Road is about 6,000 square feet, and Brandon said he hopes to see an additional 2,000 square feet added to the facility.

Each year, Meals on Wheels delivers 50,000 meals and its congregate program attracts between 25 and 55 people each day.

Senior services has 16 people on staff, which includes 11 full-time and five part-time employees. There are between nine and 12 volunteers who every day deliver meals as part of the Meals on Wheels program.

Brandon said the center has “maxed out” on administrative space as well as congregate program space, and this expansion will allow the department to more effectively serve its clients.

“We’re excited about it,” he said, adding the separate kitchen will allow Meals on Wheels “to be more efficient as their program grows.”

Sharon Smith, supervisor of Meals on Wheels, said senior services outgrew its current facility a long time ago.

Smith, who said the volunteers deliver more than 180 meals to homes each day, will now “have a warm and inviting place to congregate while they wait each day for the home-delivered meals staff to prepare the food for delivery.”