Church-to-treatment center project up for approval in St. Cloud – Finance and Commerce

A long-vacant church in St. Cloud may soon become a place where people can get help for their mental health and addiction challenges, despite pushback from some residents in the neighborhood.

Nelson Construction and Development, working with Ascension Recovery Services, wants to rehab the 15,303-square-foot church at 302 Fifth Ave. S. and turn it into a 48-bed inpatient and outpatient center for treatment of substance abuse, anxiety, and depression.

Built in the 1960s, the building has been vacant since 2013, when the First United Methodist Church relocated after 50 years of holding services there. The building has an assessed value of $208,000, according to Stearns County property records.

As part of the adaptive-reuse project, crews would renovate the education wing and congregation hall for inpatient and outpatient services. Also planned are exterior improvements, new windows, tuckpointing and a roof replacement, among other fixes.

St. Clouds Planning Commission recently recommended approval of a zoning change to move the project forward. Last week, the City Council set a Feb. 12 public hearing date for the proposed reuse, said Matt Glaesman, St. Clouds community development director.

At a Planning Commission meeting in January, project backers said the treatment center would address a big need in the city and create a productive new use for an aging building with historical value.

Weve gotten the bug of repurposing old buildings and saving the history of our community. Well, the First United Methodist Church building was expected to be torn down and ripped down, Brian Schoenborn, the buildings owner, said at the meeting. The idea that we can now invest $17 million to repurpose a historic building is very important.

Brandon George, vice president at Ascension Recovery Services, which operates programs in 25 states, told the commission that St. Cloud, like many, many, many other communities around the country, is struggling with addiction.

The new treatment center, he said, would serve everything from college kids that may need help with anxiety and depression to people that work in the community that may struggle with alcohol or other mental health concerns.

But some residents are cautious about the plans. A recurring theme among project skeptics: centers for treatment of mental health and addiction may be necessary, but build it someplace else.

At the Planning Commission meeting, neighbors peppered the project team with questions and concerns about everything from the type of medication that would be offered at the facility to traffic and public safety issues.

I dont know if Im supportive of this because our neighbors didnt hear anything about this at all, a 22-year resident of the neighborhood told the Planning Commission.

As somebody who has lived there and walks everywhere, I dont feel safe going to Holiday. [The neighborhood] is not a space that you can go into at any time of day or night because of the amount of homeless, drug-addicted, alcohol-addicted folks that loiter in the area.

Weve had a couple of shootings in that area. So we need not just this facility but we need [to take care of] that neighborhood, the resident added.

Another neighbor acknowledged the need for treatment centers, but wondered if the former church is the best place for it. The issue of the placement of this particular program in this particular neighborhood is a concern.

The treatment center would be staffed at all times with up to 30 employees during the day and 12 at night, according to a city report. Onsite employees would include administrative, counseling, medical and operations personnel.

Inpatient services could last up to 28 days, the staff report says, adding that participation in the program is voluntary.

Sue Abderholden, executive director of the Minnesota Chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness [NAMI-Minnesota], said opposition to projects like the one in St. Cloud is not unusual, despite the huge demand for mental health and addiction treatment.

NAMI-Minnesota points to the proposed Lincoln on the Creek project, which would bring 89 units of workforce housing to Edina. As part of the project, Touchstone Mental Health would provide support for at least 18 households, including at least nine with a mental illness.

The project is facing rising opposition, according to NAMI-Minnesota.

In recent years, similar opposition upended plans to bring residential treatment centers for children to cities such as Golden Valley and Forest Lake, Abderholden said.

People struggling with mental illness and addiction are living in your city and neighborhood, she added. We want them to be able to get treatment. It could be one of your own children, a sibling, a neighbor, a coworker.

It affects a lot of people. The worst thing we can do is have people not have access to treatment.

RELATED:One-time St. Cloud orphanage to become treatment center

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Church-to-treatment center project up for approval in St. Cloud - Finance and Commerce