The city is reviewing a permit application for the Downtown Ecumenical Services Council to renovate its new home at an estimated cost of $951,039.
Crabtree Construction Co. is the contractor and Dasher Hurst Architects is the architect. Both are based in Jacksonville.
DESC wants to renovate a 10,504-square-foot building at 956 N. Liberty St. owned by Ferrigno Property 3 LLC of Jacksonville. Duval County property records show it was built in 1937.
DESC launched construction with a “wall-breaking” ceremony April 4 after 42 years in the basement of First Presbyterian Church.
The council says it provides services to more than 7,000 people in need each year, including food, clothing, work boots and restaurant shoes and emergency financial assistance.
DESC’s new home in Eastside is north of the historic former National Guard Armory and about a half-mile north of its current location at 118 E. Monroe St.
In 2023, Vince and Linda Ferrigno bought the building as part of their $1 million gift to create a new facility, DESC said in a news release.
Additional donors include the Lucy Gooding Charitable Foundation Trust; the Hall-Halliburton Foundation; the Terry Family Foundation; the Edna Sproull Williams Foundation; The Lord’s Foundation; the Thomas M. and Irene Kirbo Charitable Foundation; and numerous individuals.
DESC says it has raised slightly more than $2 million of its $2.9 million capital campaign goal.
“Our hope is that the transformation of this building will help DESC continue to transform the lives of its clients,” said David Clark, Downtown Ecumenical Services Council executive director, in the release.
The permit application says the council offers emergency financial assistance, clothing assistance, food distribution and empowerment programs.
DESC said the new facility will offer amenities that are not possible in DESC’s basement space, including street-level access with parking and transit access.
They include a lobby with adjacent restrooms and private counseling rooms. The building will be fully accessible, allowing DESC to offer services like Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program registration that require ADA-compliant facilities.
In keeping with DESC’s faith-based mission, a prayer room will offer a quiet space for clients, staff or visitors.
The building will have a large community room for meetings, work sessions, programs and education offerings.
The back half of the building will have storage for clothing and groceries. There will be a loading bay for delivering donations.
DESC said Rebecca Davisson Interior Design is providing interior design and Office Images will furnish the space.
It said the contractor, architect, design and office professionals have donated some or all of their services.
While DESC is continuing to raise money for the project, it expects to occupy the new building before the end of the year.
A group of local churches founded the Downtown Ecumenical Services Council in the early 1980s and it received its charter in 1983.
Its mission is to meet the needs of people in emergency situations or experiencing poverty.
Editor Monty Zickuhr contributed to this report.