Lighthouse plans $20M expansion that would triple shelter’s beds

SHERRI WELCH Fusco, Sha er & Pappas Inc. is the architect on the project.

Emergency shelter, food and assistance provider Lighthouse is planning a $20 million expansion of its Pontiac campus.

As proposed, the plan will include updates to its headquarters building and an existing emergency shelter, along with the construction of two new sites. A new, three-story building will increase shelter capacity to 150 noncongregate shelter units, roughly tripling the current number of beds Lighthouse can provide.

e increased shelter capacity will enable Lighthouse to move homeless people living in emergency shelter rooms at local hotels to the campus, increase its ability to respond to emergency shelter demand in Oakland County, and provide additional emergency food provision and supportive services on campus, Lighthouse President and CEO Ryan Hertz said.

A new dining building will provide meals for families in the shelter and space for volunteers from local congregations to prepare them, while a new cafe and indoor-outdoor spaces will provide opportunities for sta , volunteers and clients to interact.

A new co-working space will allow about 25 sta members based in Lathrup Village o ces to work from the main campus, as needed.

“We’re trying to knit together a lot of the agship activities of South Oakland Shelter and Lighthouse and maximize interaction between sta , volunteers and people being served,” Hertz said.

“We don’t need a lot of space for hallways with closed, locked o ces. ... What we do want is to use our space for interaction and connection. e campus plan is really in the spirit of that.” e campus — bounded by Woodward Avenue to the west, Cottage Street to the north and Center Street to the east — includes Lighthouse-owned buildings, single-family homes and duplexes that are zoned di erently, Hertz said.

Other parts of the central campus plan include:

` e addition of a “social supermarket” or grocery store-like food pantry. at will be paired with housing and utility assistance, nancial coaching, income support and bene t-application assistance through a Center for Working Families model.

` An indoor-outdoor community meeting space with an upper-level outdoor terrace connected by stairs to a ground-level, outdoor seating area, a commercial kitchen for events, food prep classes and future space for entrepreneurs, along with a cafe for sta , volunteers and clients to socialize and work.

` A new economic opportunity center with supportive services to help keep newly housed clients in their homes.

Lighthouse plans to fund the project through a mix of tax credit nancing, public funding from the county and state and donations and grants, Hertz said.

Lighthouse is seeking to rezone the majority of the campus west of Hovey Street to local business/residential mixed-use and the parcels east of Hovey to residential o ce. e Pontiac Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval of the rezoning requests on Wednesday night. ose requests are expected to go before the full council later this month, said Mark Yandrick, planning manager for the city of Pontiac.

Contingent on zoning request approvals, Lighthouse must then submit a formal site plan for the project to the planning commission, he said.

In a related move, Lighthouse listed its Lathrup Village o ce at 18505 W. 12 Mile Road for sale for $825,000.

Most of the South Oakland Shelter sta continued working from the SOS Lathrup Village o ces after the Lighthouse and SOS merger in 2019

Contact: swelch@crain.com; (313) 446-1694; @SherriWelch