Week 6 - If these Walls Could Talk...

Progress is not hard to see...but sometimes it's hard to watch.

This week, we added stairwells, banquet hall walls, and the start of the elevator shaft to the new Parish Center. Exclusive photos are available in our photo album. That's the good news.

The bad news: this week we also say goodbye to the old Parish Center. Through many years, this building served us well. Starting next Tuesday, the parish offices will operate out of the temporary space in the Youth Room off of Van Buren St. As we say goodbye, we have a few parting shots to remember her by.

The building committee met this week with the electrical engineer from Wakely to finalize network locations and go over the electrical site plan. One nice feature: all of the overhead lines that run around the church will be buried during construction, which should really clean up the view of the church! We also surveyed the existing phone distribution system in preparation for the release of the technology specification. This week we'll also send out a target clarification to a few of our furniture bidders, clarifying specific models and options and asking for updated pricing. The committee and staff will meet June 7th to view samples and select the winning bidder(s).

Looking hopefully to the future...

Week 5 - A Firm Foundation

The basement walls (three of them anyways) reached full height this week, and the footings were poured for the Parish Hall.

Pictures, including exclusive aerial shots only available here, are in our photo album.

Other News: the building committee had a fantastic meeting this week, going over the initial responses to the furniture specification. We will be seeking some clarifications in the next couple weeks, and looking at sample pieces in early June. Next week we start reviewing the technology needs of the building.

On Friday, Fr. Bill and his crew of intrepid travelers departed Bay City for Poland. We pray for their safety during their trip and that they have an enjoyable visit to the land of our ancestors!

Memorial Brick Info

Happy Mothers Day to all you mothers out there!

This weekend, the Capital Campaign Committee began taking orders for memorial bricks, which will line the walkway leading into the new Parish Center.

The bricks are a standard 4x8" brick paver, which will be reddish in color (the exact color will be determined in the next week or so, once we have the final building brick onsite). Each brick can be engraved with up to three lines of text, with up to 14 characters per line (including spaces, punctuation, etc).

The bricks are $100 each, payable to St. Stanislaus Parish. Although this will be an ongoing project, any bricks ordered by August 1st will be included in the initial install of the walk. After that, the parish will install bricks in groups of 25 as they are sold.

More information on the brick is available at the Parish Office.

Week 4 - Basement Walls

The footings are poured, and now the basement walls are going up!

We've had some rainy weather lately, but the crew is doing a great job of keeping to the schedule despite the weather.

Just a few pictures in our photo album this week, but there's an added treat in there -- a perspective shot of the front of the church.

In other news, we are accelerating the schedule with respect to the old High School building that currently houses the Parish Offices. The staff is preparing to move out of the building by Memorial Day. The parish offices will temporarily be housed in the Youth Social Room of the grade school. Access to the temporary offices will be through a dedicated door on Grant Street. The offices will operate from this space until the new Parish Center Offices are available for occupancy, which is expected in late October.

The early move allows us to get started on the asbestos abatement in the High School building, which will allow us to demolish the building in August, and reclaim some of our parking before the weather starts to turn cold again. As an added benefit, the abatement and demolition work will occur while the grade school kids are not in school, which helps us maintain a safe work site.

Week 3 - Basement Prep Work

The hole got a lot larger this week, and a new construction ramp has been added to give the construction equipment access to the basement level. We're starting to see signs that the basement footings are coming soon.

Photos from Week 3 can be found in our photo album.

In other news, the furniture spec went out this week. We've got a good bid list -- 6 companies, including four local firms -- so we're hoping for a good response! Bids are scheduled to come back on May 15th.