The new facility will be located at the corner of NW 3rd and Glisan. The footprint of the new building will be almost four times the size of the first floor of the current Blanchet facility.
One of the most important parts about our agreement with the city is that we will be able to continue to provide services to our guests, at our current location, while the new building is under construction. We hope to break ground for the new facility in the second half of 2010.
The new building will have a basement and three floors above. The basement will be for food storage. The first floor will be the eating area, the kitchen, an eating area, and a waiting area for our guests. This waiting area will eliminate the line outside the building. There will also be several rooms to provide health services, other social services, chapels and libraries. The second and third floor will be for housing. Of course, the new building will not be lavish but will provide much more space to deliver the services that are needed by the community that we support.
We have not yet selected a contractor for the new building. However, the architects are well into the design process. We currently estimate that the new facility will cost about $9 million.
The Sera Architectural firm is striving to design the new facility at gold or platinum level of environmental Standards to ensure the highest energy efficiency possible. A new kitchen design will provide more space and better flow for meal preparation and distribution. There will be larger food storage areas and also a more efficient area designed for food and clothing drop off. The new building will have a seating capacity for at least 80 guests, at one time, in the dining area. The new building will be able to house up to 50 individuals, including an area with units for those residents that have “graduated” from the traditional Blanchet program. These men will find paying jobs outside the Blanchet House, but will be able to continue to live in the House up to one year and receive support services.
We hope to move into our facility in 2011. It will take the support of the entire community for this to happen. However, this must be accomplished as our current facility is very old and insufficient to provide the services that are needed.
Almost all of the furniture for the new building has already been manufactured. This includes the furniture for the eating area, for the meeting rooms and for all the bedrooms. The furniture was manufactured in the workshop at the Blanchet Farm. We are extremely proud of the efforts these individuals made. The furniture is beautiful and saved Blanchet a good deal of money. For more info about the Blanchet Farm and the woodworking shop, go to the Blanchet Farm page.
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