Grand Rapids' Campau Commons resumes construction on $1.1M community center building

Construction on the $1.1 million Campau Commons Community Center has resumed after a nine-month stall.

After completing the $14 million reconstruction of Campau Commons, a low-income housing complex on Grand Rapids' South Division Avenue, construction on the community center stopped when the anticipated federal funding didn't come through. Now that the Grand Rapids Housing Commission has received the funding from the Department of Housing & Urban Development, the project is moving forward.

The 9,000-square-foot community center will house the Campau Commons' administrative offices, and will be a base for providing support services for residents.

"We do a lot of coordinating of human services through the rest of the community, and this will be a hub for them to have classes and meetings," says Carlos Sanchez, GRHC executive director. "And if Head Start's willing to come back, we will have a room available for them there."

Residents will be able to pay their rent, receive help with matters like credit counseling or job training, and can use the available community room for private gatherings and parties.

"Right now it's hard to have partners come in and meet with the residents because there's no place to meet (until the community center is completed)," Sanchez says. "The managers and staff are managing from our Sheldon site, so they don't have a lot of connection with the Campau residents."

Campau Commons offers 92 low-income family dwellings. Sanchez says all are occupied.

"We were committed to getting this project done," he says. "It's ten times better than what it used to be."

Source: Carlos Sanchez, Grand Rapids Housing Commission

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Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].