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Published 4/29/2010 in Local News
By MONICA SPRINGER
Once Mosaic's newest community-based home is completed, it will house 14 clients in apartments that will be wheelchair accessible.
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Brad Nading/Telegram Kriss Ayala, left, Mary Yardley, Debbie Reynolds and other Mosaic staff move a shovel of dirt Wednesday during a groundbreaking ceremony at 3002 E. Schulman Ave. for a 10-unit apartment complex for those served by the organization. Yardley plans to be the first person served by Mosaic to move in to the new apartments.
Mosaic broke ground on the apartments, which will be located at 3002 E. Schulman Ave., on Wednesday afternoon after planning the complex for two years.
"We're so happy," said Debbie Reynolds, Mosaic's executive director.
She said there was a need for the apartments in Garden City because Mosaic was being contacted from other Kansas counties by people who wanted the company's services, but Mosaic didn't have adequate housing for them in Garden City.
Mosaic received a $1.1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to build the apartments.
The 14 Mosaic clients that will live in the apartments will have 24-hour a day, seven days a week support from staff.
There will be six one-bedroom apartments and four two-bedroom apartments, Reynolds said.
Reynolds said the building will be a one-story building and each of the apartments will have an outside entrance as well as a patio area.
The building also will be similar to a hotel, Reynolds said, in that the clients' apartments also will be accessible from the inside of the building.
The apartments will be wheelchair accessible, so there will be roll-in showers and the kitchen also will be wheelchair accessible.
Dick Construction, of Garden City, will build the apartments, and the building was designed by the Garden City firm Gibson, Mancini, Carmichael and Nelson architects.
At the groundbreaking ceremony, several speakers shared their enthusiasm about the project, including John Doll, vice mayor; Bob Sperling and Debra Bolton, both on Mosaic's Community Advisory Board; and Eric Depperschmidt, president of Finney County Economic Development Corporation.
Bolton said the Mosaic clients who live in the apartments will likely become close, like a family.
Depperschmidt said FCEDC helped Mosaic by providing information from FCEDC's housing study, which Mosaic used in its grant writing process.
"We're just extremely excited to help a business in the community that does so much for Garden City," Depperschmidt said.
He also said that the new apartment complex for Mosaic clients shows that some projects in Finney County do not have to come from direct funding sources.
After the ceremony, staff from Mosaic, as well as some of its clients, shoveled the first pieces of dirt on the project.
The apartments will take nine to 12 months to complete, Reynolds said.
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