Inspiring Hope and Integrating Community in a New Residential Treatment Campus  

The Salvation Army provides the community and those around the globe with significant resources for people in need. The Western Division, headquartered in Omaha, serves a three-state area including Nebraska, South Dakota and Western Iowa with 28 Corps Community Centers. The former headquarters building in Omaha, housing the Salvation Army’s Lied Renaissance Center had 150,000 square feet of space and was out of compliance with fire codes, with an institutional feel due to its celadon green tile, hard surfaces and too many dark and unsecured nooks and crannies. Light came into the building, but there were no views to the outside. A repurposed hospital facility, it was constructed in 1908 and included administrative offices and several community and residential programs.

The age, condition, general configuration and ongoing maintenance costs of the existing facility prompted The Salvation Army to update the headquarters to better serve the community. We designed the new multi-story facility to be constructed and fully operational prior to the demolition of the existing headquarters building. The new contemporary building provides less than one half of the square footage, but uses the space more efficiently. With a new name inspired by the long heritage of services provided by the Salvation Army, Heritage Place at Renaissance Village now offers an improved, more welcoming experience and environment for residents, staff and people in transitional programs, behavioral health programs and drug rehabilitation. The brick, stucco and wood facility is infused with light and is located within an established neighborhood, surrounded by green space and parking.

Rather than a former long walk down dimly-lit hallways, there is now quick and secure access to the transitional housing and apartments. Residential support components on the ground floor and residential units on the 2^nd and 3^rd floors comply with Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) requirements. With a minimal effort, the Mental Health Resources component on the fourth floor can be converted to also accommodate other residential living programs, depending on need. Most of the programs that operated in the Lied Center moved to the new building:

• THRU — residential program — a 36-apartment transitional housing unit for homeless people
• Mental Health Resources residential program
• Early Head Start for children from birth to age three
• Community Counseling Center

Transforming the site to combine locations and consolidate functions involved choreographing a series of steps that included: locating new administration offices offsite, relocating several non-residential programs offsite, constructing a new facility on site for the residential programs, and demolishing the existing repurposed hospital facility.

Campus and Housing Components:

• Multiple buildings
• Welcoming reception desk   
• Furnished Transitional housing (modern apartment units with private bathrooms and bed spaces)
• Furnished multi-family housing for families with children
• Open, modulated space
• Small pods of 16 people
• Family counseling for entire campus
• Art room
• Job training services
• Auditorium  / gym
• Small prep kitchen used to teach residents how to cook
• Communal spaces for eating and recreation
• Secure rooftop area with a view of the city
• Artistic bench for quiet reflection