The Salvation Army has begun work on the outside of their new
location at 111 Jackson Ave. as part of an on-going building
project.

The Salvation Army officially moved to Jackson Avenue from its
former location at 21 Kennedy St. on April 14 with a dedication
ceremony. The inside of the Jackson Avenue facility, which
previously housed the Jewish synagogue Temple Beth El, was
renovated over several months prior to April to house the corps’
operations.

Housed at 21 Kennedy St. since 1904, the Salvation Army had been
searching for a larger facility for the past 40 years.

Stage two of the project, which includes exterior work at the
facility, began earlier this week.

“It’s going good,” Capt. Deborah Weigner said Friday. “The
beginning of the week it was rough and rocky with dirt and rocks
and everything. As of today, it has all been leveled out. The
driveway is still a dirt base, but the rocks are gone.”

Weigner explained the exterior work included in this stage of
the project. The driveway at the facility will be widened and
resurfaced. She also said they’re expanding to create a parking lot
in the back part of the building, which will also see handicap
entrances with railings installed.

Weigner said the front entrance of the building will have the
old steps removed and new steps installed, as well as the addition
of red brick planters. The retaining wall along the sidewalk will
also be resurfaced with new mortar.

Weigner said into next week, the driveway will hopefully be
filled with cement, and then the concrete will be covered with
blacktop.

“When it’s all said and done and the cement work is done, a
landscaping company will come in and reseed all of our lawn and
plant some shrubs and plant some trees and plants around the front
and in the planters and on the edge of the driveway so it looks”
good, Weigner said.

She said they’re estimating stage two of the project to be
completed in mid-July.

“The Salvation Army captains really apologize to the community,
especially to our neighbors, for the noise and trucks coming in,”
Weigner said. “And to our clientele; it’s been hard for them to get
up there. We’re looking forward to our future with our outside
looking beautiful.”