DAYTONA BEACH — More than 120 people celebrated the soon-to-open Hope Place on Tuesday, marking years of effort on the part of social services groups, businesses and government to create the transitional shelter for homeless families, children and young adults.
The first families won't move in for another 3-to-4 weeks, and some of the apartments taking shape inside the old Hurst Elementary School on Derbyshire Road are still a work in progress. But those attending the ribbon-cutting were able to get a glimpse at some of the completed living quarters that include living areas, bedrooms, private bathrooms and kitchens.
The 24 families sheltering at Halifax Urban Ministries' North Street center will move in first, HUM board chairwoman Anne Evans said Tuesday. They will be followed by residents of Hope House, which currently is home to several homeless students.
The gradual transition will allow time to "make sure we do things right," she said.
Those behind Hope Place's creation had hoped the facility would be closer to completion by now. Tuesday's event was intended to be the grand opening, but with a fair amount of work left to do the gathering became more of a sneak peak at progress.
The grand opening, which will include a picnic and be open to the nearby neighborhood residents, will happen within the next few months.
There has been steady progress in converting the 56-year-old elementary school into a family shelter. In early December, the interiors of some buildings were still skeletal mazes of floor-to-ceiling metal supports and meandering lines of new pipes and wires.
Several buildings are still a work in progress, and late last week there were still power cords snaking across gritty floors waiting for tile and carpet. Yellow caution tape was strung across some areas, hammers were pounding away and the smell of fresh paint and building materials hung heavy in the air. The courtyard was still carpeted in a slab of dirt waiting for new sod.
The rooms were still empty, with all the donated and newly purchased furniture still stored in one of the buildings that won't be used to house residents until future years. But by Tuesday, some of the apartments appeared ready for residents. When the doors swing fully open, former school will become a 300-bed shelter.
This week, Hope Place administrative and financial staff may begin moving into one of the old red brick school buildings just north of LPGA Boulevard. The other buildings won't be ready until late February or March for shelter residents, which will include teenagers and 20-somethings on their own.
The full $3.5 million renovation of the long-vacant school should be complete by April or May, said Shawn Helmer, superintendent of Ormond Beach-based ML Underwood Construction, the general contractor on the project.
The new refuge for those with no where else to go will literally be a dream come true for HUM, which for years had hoped to relocate from its current family shelter just off Ridgewood Avenue in a neighborhood that struggles with crime, poverty and dilapidation.
The school district sold the 14.5-acre Hurst property just north of Daytona Beach to the county early last year for $200,000. A few months later, the Volusia County Council voted to give $3.5 million to transform the school buildings into a 55,000-square-foot assistance center.
The project started attracting donations last year, including $100,000 from retired teacher Angie Forest and two $75,000 grants from Daytona Beach that will go toward operations. Tens of thousands of dollars more is coming from other local governments including Holly Hill, Ormond Beach, South Daytona, Ponce Inlet and Daytona Beach Shores.
Forough Hosseini, a major force behind the project, said Hope Place is on budget. She has said the effort has attracted about $150,000 in annual commitments from cities, and an up to $400,000 commitment from Volusia County in matching funds. The goal, she said Tuesday is for Volusia County to have "no homeless families or children" by the year 2020.
Hosseini, who chairs the Daytona State College Board of Trustees and is a member of the United Way Foundation Board, is also a founder of other local programs to help homeless and poverty-stricken kids including Hope House and Food Brings Hope.
Hope Place is planning more fundraising, with naming rights for individual buildings at the shelter and sales of bricks that will pave the complex's sidewalks.
There will be some new furniture, but to make ends meet several hotels have donated furniture, and local businesses donated storage space for the furniture. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University is donating outdoor furniture and DeLand High School is donating benches for the shower rooms.
There have also been donations of building materials and the expertise of local professionals who are providing guidance on everything from septic systems to construction to legal matters.
HUM plans to continue its free meals, prevention program and services for the homeless in the complex of buildings at the corner of Ridgewood Avenue and North Street. But it's yet to be determined what will become of the nonprofit's 96-bed shelter there.
When Hope Place broke ground a year ago, the goal was to open in August. Then the plan was to have Thanksgiving dinner there. But work didn't start in earnest until May 2017, and the extensive overhaul which has to meet the latest code regulations has taken longer than expected. Nearly everything at the school built in 1961 is being upgraded or replaced.
Walls that weren't thick or strong enough, or tied into the roof, were knocked out and replaced. New plumbing, electrical wiring, and windows are being installed. Some sections of roof are being patched. There will be a new air-conditioning system. Old cabinetry has been ripped out.
There will be new flooring and ceilings, new window blinds and everything is getting a fresh coat of paint, including the doors and exterior of the buildings. New landscaping is also being added with the help of a local club, including new palm trees and shrubs lining the property's front side.
The old chain link fencing that wraps around the perimeter of the school property will be replaced with a black wrought iron fence that will give the facility less of an institutional look. A new gate will have position sensors and a card swipe system to control access to the shelter. Security cameras will also be installed.
Partly because of a mix-up with permits, the facilities main kitchen will be one of the last things completed. It could be mid- or late March before the kitchen is complete, said Hosseini, who is also executive vice president of information systems for ICI Homes.
"HUM is aware of the situation and is planning alternative ways of feeding their residents while the kitchen is not ready," she said.
Once the kitchen is complete, there will be an employee-run cafeteria where residents can get three free meals per day.
When completed, the campus will include 26 emergency shelter rooms, each of which will have four beds. There will be nine apartments for families of four to six people, some of which will be designed to accommodate residents with various disabilities.
The nine apartments, which will have kitchens and bathrooms, will be used by families closer to going back to independent living. Those who have jobs might be charged minimal rent, depending on their situation.
There will also be 32 beds for unaccompanied youths ages 17-25.
Most of the shelter residents will use communal bathrooms, showers and a laundry room where there will be no charge to use washers and driers.
Residents' rooms will be spartan, but include beds, dressers and mobile closets. In the administration building, there will be wireless service and a study room, communal living room and a children's play room. A large amount of toys, educational items and and kid-sized furniture have been donated for children at the shelter.
One of the buildings will be leased out for a child care service overseen by the Early Learning Coalition that will have space for up to 100 kids and be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Catholic Charities will have an office on site to offer counseling and staff training. There will also be a quiet room where residents can go to think, pray and meet with clergy who will come to the shelter. Eventually, the property could include a library, a community park, and a community garden.
"We believe what we have done here will be a model for other communities," HUM Executive Director Buck James said, to applause.
Reporter Suzanne Hirt contributed to this story.