With an eye on future reopening, Executive Director, Michelle Meyer, gives us a peek at which spaces will be renovated to better meet member, staff, and volunteer needs. Fortuitous timing allows renovations to the Community Room and interior spaces to align with our temporary COVID closure - meaning construction will be quicker and without additional service disruption.
What are the goals of the construction project? What are you most excited about?
“A major objective of the project is enlarging the Community Room to better meet Maybelle Center member needs. I’m very excited to have a Community Room with a fresh feel and space where folks don’t feel on top of one another. The project started long before I became ED - it’s been such a “hurry up and wait” project. But it couldn’t have started at a better time. All of our employees are already working remotely, and a larger Community Room is essential for a safe reopening to ensure more space between members when they’re sitting and talking.
While we are limited to the building's physical footprint, the Community Room will increase by 1000 square feet and gain additional usable space by reconfiguring the room's flow. Currently, we have a very large desk that bifurcates the room and causes traffic jams, especially if multiple members in the room are using mobility devices. The desk's size will be reduced and tucked into the back corner to create an open space that is more user-friendly and conducive to gatherings.
Changing the footprint of the Community Room also encouraged us to look at other interior spaces that don't function efficiently. For example, we have a secured medication room that we no longer use. We can repurpose that space so members can have private conversations on the telephone or one-on-one conversations with staff or each other.
We'll also renovate the other side of our building that houses our classroom and volunteer area. While larger spaces are critical in COVID-times, even before the pandemic, our existing classroom often wasn’t large enough to accommodate programming like our choir. The disjointed layout lacks a central gathering space for larger groups and forces people to be squirreled away in different corners. One wall will be replaced with a movable partition that can roll back to create a larger, more flexible space for groups to move around – and even host small performances!
And if you’ve ever been a volunteer or attended an event on that side, you’ll be excited to hear that we’re adding another entry door and a bathroom so volunteers will not have to traipse all the way back through the other building!”
When will construction be done?
“It depends on when we start. Construction will take about 12 weeks, but we will not be doing any demolition until we get our permit from the city – which looks like it should be soon. Best case, we get started by the beginning of August and are done by mid-October.
Ironically, COVID is allowing us to complete the project more quickly. Initially, we were planning construction in two phases so we could minimize closure time. We’d shuffle staff and programming to one side of the building while construction was happening on the other side. And then we’d shuffle to the other side while remaining construction was completed. Since we can't be open anyway and staff are already working remotely, we can do construction on both sides simultaneously and reduce our timeline by three or four weeks.”
Will you immediately reopen after construction is complete? What will it look like?
“We will absolutely open as soon as we can, as long as we can do so safely. But there are so many question marks that we won't know because they change daily. And it will undoubtedly look different.
When we drew up the plans, COVID-19 wasn’t a thing. As we get closer to the project completion, we’ll be talking to the contractors about what safety precautions we can do for the health and safety of our members, staff, volunteers, and everyone who comes into the space – especially considering many have underlying medical conditions.
Plexi-glass? Automatic doors? Wearing masks, hand-sanitizer, washing hands? Occupancy maximums? I just don’t know what it looks like yet. We’ll be putting those COVID systems in place this fall as we get closer to completion, and we know what the current disease trajectory and restrictions are.”
A big thank you to the Charitable Remainder Trust of Clark Munro, The Evelyn L. Jones Fund of The Oregon Community Foundation, Maybelle Clark Macdonald Fund, M. J. Murdock Charitable Trust, Prosper Portland (Community Livability Grant), and Rose E. Tucker Charitable Trust for making this project possible!
