Central undertakes renovation project
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Contrary to some speculation, however, the building is not closed permanently, but is currently undergoing extensive renovation and should be re-opened in four to six weeks, church officials said.
“It went from a little project to a total overhaul pretty quickly,” said Central Building and Grounds Committee vice chairman Randy Garrison. “We started out in November just wanting to patch a few walls, but quickly found we had broken plumbing, broken sewage lines, wiring that was not up to code, several leaks and some mold and mildew problems. We’re keeping the roof, the walls and the floor, but everything else will be new.”
Built in the early 1900s, the building was purchased by Central about eight years ago, said church elder Ken Smith, who along with Garrison is overseeing the renovation.
The building is said to have originally been a chicken slaughter house. In the decades that followed, it has undergone many changes, from housing the Badger Arcade, to a skating rink to office space.
Most recently is has been used by Central to house its benevolence and youth programs. In recent years, though, both programs have grown too big for the building as it was, said Garrison.
“We have a giant benevolence program,” he said. “People come every day, they just keep coming. We want to be able to use the building to its fullest extent.
The renovated building, he said, will be able to handle the increased demand as it will have large rooms specially built for storage and distribution of clothing and food stuffs, as well as showers and rest rooms for those in need. The youth rooms, too, have been expanded and remodeled.
But the building will also be more multi-purpose than it was previously, said Garrison. It will also house a kitchen, several classrooms and a central area that can be used for preaching and singings.
The upper part of the building, which was previously unused, has been converted to a second story which will be used for church storage.