Renton got a first peek of the veterans’ center going up on South Second Street at a star-studded groundbreaking ceremony last Friday.
When completed in a year or so, the 59,752-square-foot Compass Veterans Center – Renton will house 58 affordable apartments for veterans and their families, an outdoor play area for children, a computer lab and common rooms for social activities, community meals and therapeutic group activities.
Below all that, on the first floor, will be Luther’s Table, a coffee shop and bakery by day and a wine bar and music venue by night. St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church will run the place, in collaboration with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
“From the city’s perspective, this is a great project,” Mayor Denis Law said at the groundbreaking. “It really epitomizes the need and responsibility for serving veterans.”
Applicants to the Compass Veterans Center – Renton will be referred by veterans’ associations. Accepted veterans and their families will live on the top three stories of Renton’s Compass Center. Tenants will pay 30 percent of their income for rent and in exchange receive help getting jobs, moving to permanent spots and planning their lives.
The South Second Street complex will be the 18th building, but only the fourth veterans’ center, operated by The Compass Center, a Seattle-based, Lutheran nonprofit.
The other three Compass Center veterans complexes are in Burien, Rainier Valley and Shoreline.
Construction of Compass Veterans Center – Renton could begin in late June and the center could open by September 2010.
The four-story building will go up on land now occupied by Renton Lutheran Church, which closed in 2006.
Part of that brick building is now leased by New Beginnings Christian Fellowship.
Former Renton Lutheran Church Pastor Martha Myers and her congregation closed the 1940s church to make room for a community center.
At the groundbreaking, St. Matthew’s pastor Kirby Unti thanked Renton Lutheran Church for “their willingness to die.”
He also thanked U.S. Sen. Patty Murray for help securing funding for the $18 million center. The project was deadlocked before her help, Unti said.
Funding for Renton’s Compass Center is coming from King County, the Washington Department of Veteran Affairs and the King County Veterans’ Program, with help from the state housing trust fund and an assortment of tax credits and loans.
At the groundbreaking, Murray called the center a “real tribute to the people who serve us.”
“I just really love this project,” she said. “I can’t wait to walk in that front door and see more veterans getting that support from the community they so deserve.”
Still needed
• A retail or educational tenant is needed. Also needed: $1.5 million. To help, or for more information, call Director of Development Cindy Jackson at 206-357-3104. For more information about the Compass Center, visit www.compasscenter.org.
• Luther’s Table is seeking volunteers and donations. To help, contact lutherstable@gmail.com or call 425-226-2420.
Compass Center, at a glance
• What: Three stories and 35,280 square feet of affordable housing for homeless veterans, one story and 8,500 square feet of retail. Half occupied by Luther’s Table coffee and wine bar, half awaiting a tenant.
• Size: 59,752 square feet, 16,700 square-foot footprint
• Estimated construction start date: June 2009
• Estimated construction end date: June 2010
• Address: 403, 419 S. Second St. and 205 Morris Ave. S.
