The D.C. Center for the LGBT Community and the Capital Pride Alliance hosted a ceremonial “groundbreaking” on Wednesday to showcase the yet unfinished 6,671-square-foot space on the first floor of a five-story building in the city’s Shaw neighborhood where the center plans to move later this year.
Nearly 100 local LGBTQ activists and community supporters turned out for the event, and were given a tour of the sprawling space located in The Adora, a partially renovated warehouse building at 1827 Wiltberger St., N.W. The building is located steps away from the Howard Theatre and a little over a block from the Shaw-Howard University Metro station.
The D.C. Center and Capital Pride Alliance, which organizes D.C.’s annual LGBTQ Pride events, announced last December that they had signed a joint lease to move their operations into The Adora, with several other local LGBTQ organizations agreeing to occupy space in the building.
The new space is more than double the 2,400-square-foot offices the D.C. Center and Capital Pride currently occupy in the city’s Reeves Center municipal building at 2000 14th St., N.W.
“Thank you so much for joining us this afternoon as we mark this momentous occasion on our ceremonial groundbreaking,” said Andrew Zapfel, president of the D.C. Center’s Board of Directors. “As you know, groundbreaking ceremonies take place at the beginning of a project. And in this case the beginning of a new community center.”
Added Zapfel, “And talking about service delivery and giving back to our community, we are pleased to announce today that Wegmans, a longtime supporter of the D.C. Center, will fund the completion of our food pantry. Not only that, they are also going to be providing in-kind sustainable support.”
He was referring to Wegmans Food Markets, Inc., the national supermarket chain that center officials say will provide, among other things, food for the food pantry.
Others who spoke at the ceremony were Kimberley Bush, executive director of the D.C. Center; Rehana Mohammed, vice chair of the D.C. Center’s board; Ryan Bos, executive director of Capital Pride Alliance; Ashley Smith, president of the Capital Pride board; and Japer Bowles, director of the D.C. Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs.
Each of the D.C. Center and Capital Pride officials attending the event, including Bush and Smith, thanked D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and Bowles for what they said was their effort to help provide city funds to support the new D.C. Center space. D.C. Center officials announced in December that the mayor’s office provided the Center with a $1 million city grant to help cover some of the costs for the build out renovation project for the new D.C. Center space.
“And speaking of build out, thank you very much to the entire architectural team for helping us design this space that will help us with all of our needs to help our community,” Bush told the gathering. “When community members come to this new space, they will see a broader range of life and human services offered and an enhanced experience will aid in increasing their health and wellness,” Bush said.
“The new D.C. Center will be a state-of-the-art space for the community to gather, connect, collaborate as well as seek and receive an array of services in furtherance of liberation,” an information sheet released at the ceremony says. Among other amenities, the information sheet says, the new center will include meeting and conference room space, cyber computer space, a food pantry, Americans With Disabilities Act accommodating shower and bathroom, and a clothing closet and lockers.
Center officials have said the expanded accommodations are aimed at assisting LGBTQ people who may be homeless or in need of mental health support. A second information sheet released at the ceremony says therapists, counselors, and case managers will be available at the new center along with HIV and STD testing and counseling services.
“On behalf of the Capital Pride Alliance, I want to say how excited we are to have been able to join the D.C. Center to support this opportunity and come together in a new and larger space with fuller community organizations and leaders,” Bos said at the ceremony.
“We have shared office space with the D.C. Center for over 12 years,” said D.C. Center president Smith. “And our thrill is creating this bigger space and to allow other organizations into this space to be partners, advocates, activists, and service providers,” Smith said.
Among the other LGBTQ organizations that have so far signed on to lease space in the new center include Rainbow Families, the Wanda Alston Foundation, Team DC, SMYAL, the Equality Chamber of Commerce, Mary’s House for older LGBTQ adults, and the LGBTQ supportive consulting firm GIII Associates.
At the time plans for the new D.C. Center were announced in December, D.C. Center officials said they expected the renovation and build out project to be completed in time for the new center to open in July or August of this year.
But center officials said this week that the renovation work, which has yet to take place, was expected to begin in July. Mohammed told the Washington Blade at the Wednesday ceremony that an increase in expenses for the build out construction has created a shortfall in funds that the center hopes to remedy through additional support from the mayor’s office and private sector supporters.
“We have some fantastic partners who have already signed on to support the project,” she said. “But we absolutely need more funding to complete it this year as planned,” she said, adding, “supplies have gotten more expensive due to supply chain issues and inflation, and we simply need more funds to close out this project.”
Asked when the new center will hold its grand opening, Mohammed said, “We don’t have a date for the grand opening ceremony yet. But we’re anticipating we’ll open our doors this year for the community. So, we’re very excited about that.”
Added Mohamed, “It really depends on how the construction progresses. We’re now waiting to get the go-ahead on our permit and start construction in the next few weeks.”
