St. Louis’ Community Development Administration formally presented a large $4.8 million check on Tuesday to Jubilee Community Development Corp. for the transformation of a vacant elementary school in the city’s Fairground neighborhood.
Representatives from Jubilee, the city’s development arm, Jubilee Community Church, the mayor’s office and local residents stood outside the 51,380-square-foot building Tuesday afternoon bundled up in winter gear.
The occasion marked a celebration for construction that’s expected to begin next summer on Eliot Elementary School in north St. Louis, which was built in 1898 and has been empty since 2004. With the funding, the building will be transformed into a state-of-the-art facility called the Jubilee Wellness Center. It will address critical issues like addiction, homelessness and mental health.
For months, volunteers from the community and Jubilee have worked to remove dumpsters full of debris from the building. Tom Nagel, a spokesman for the Community Development Administration, on Tuesday handed off the big white check addressed to the Jubilee development group as a song by gospel group Shekinah Glory played over a speaker.
“We have the honor to work with so many community groups, enabling them with federal funding, so the City of St. Louis government can’t do it alone,” Nagel said. “We need dedicated people like you in the neighborhood and your offices all working together. This brings us so much inspiration for what can be done for the city of St. Louis.”
The Jubilee Community Development Corp. acquired the building in July 2022, according to city records. Andy Krumsieg, Jubilee Community Church’s administrative pastor, stood inside the vacant school and noted how the building would soon look different.
“The building is solid as a rock,” Krumsieg said. “There’s a gymnasium here that’s going to be restored, and the whole lower level (of the building). There’s a whole lot of light that comes into the lower level … it’s a beautiful thing. Then there’s a floor above and a third floor as well.”
He said there will be 50 first aid recovery beds on the third floor, 25 respite beds on the second floor, program space on the entire first floor and medically assisted treatment on the lower level.
The soon-to-be Jubilee Wellness Center will provide 75 to 100 beds for addiction recovery and transitional housing, the medically assisted treatment clinic, fellowship spaces, training rooms and other services. Krumsieg highlighted Jubilee’s track record of providing various holistic recovery programs, which it hopes to expand upon in partnership with the Assisted Recovery Centers of America after the new center opens.
He said as a pastor, he’s had to face tough questions about the role of churches in the community and whether or not they’re doing enough.
“Everybody's welcome in our churches, right? But not really,” Krumsieg said Tuesday. “And so we've got to really be with people. This is all about community, and the community is hurting.”
The project costs $24 million and is a collaborative effort to honor the building’s historic architecture and address the shortage of detox and recovery beds in St. Louis, development leaders said. The city’s development administration is also funding the Jubilee CDC’s conversion of the vacant Economy Inn Motel on North Grand Boulevard into a supportive housing center called Gethsemane Home with a grant of $1.15 million.
Renderings for Eliot’s transformation will be completed in spring 2025. Permits will then be acquired, and construction is expected to begin next summer, Krumsieg said.
Officials estimate it will take 12 to 15 months to complete the project.
