{"id":51967,"date":"2025-12-04T11:24:06","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T11:24:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/51967\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T11:24:06","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T11:24:06","slug":"philadelphias-william-way-to-renovate-historic-center-city-building","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/51967\/","title":{"rendered":"Philadelphia’s William Way to renovate historic Center City building"},"content":{"rendered":"

From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to cover? Let us know!<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

After months of uncertainty, the William Way LGBT Community Center announced this week that the nonprofit is not abandoning, but repairing its longtime home in Center City.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThanks to the support of multiple sources, including generous donors, and the efforts of our board, staff, and partners, we are pleased to share that the Center will return to the building once redevelopment is complete,\u201d said board co-chairs David Huting and Laura Ryan in a statement.\n<\/p>\n

The update is a surprise.\n <\/p>\n

A few days before Thanksgiving, the organization announced it was permanently leaving 1315 Spruce St. on Dec. 18 because it couldn\u2019t raise money to renovate the historic building.\n<\/p>\n

For now, it\u2019s unclear how much the renovations will cost or how long it will take for them to be completed. Huting said it would cost $3.5 million just to seal the property, but he could not provide a full estimate for the entire rehab.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile there are still many details to finalize, including a timeline for when we can once again welcome the community back into the building, we are thrilled to share that the Center will not be leaving its longtime home,\u201d Huting and Ryan said. \u201cWe look forward to sharing our vision for a reimagined facility, one that continues to be an essential resource for Philadelphia\u2019s LGBTQ community, and which will become a reality as details are finalized.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what to know about the building, its history and current status:\n<\/p>\n

The center is not closing<\/p>\n

The building will still close on Dec. 18, but the organization will provide programming and services at other locations while officials figure out the renovation plan.\n<\/p>\n

Starting Jan. 5, the center\u2019s empowerment programs will temporarily operate out of The Church of St. Luke and The Epiphany \u2014 located around the corner at 330 S. 13th St. The congregation has a \u201cdeeply rooted history of supporting, affirming, and celebrating Philadelphia\u2019s LGBTQ+ community,\u201d the nonprofit said.\n<\/p>\n

The list includes an initiative serving older adults who are queer, a resource center for the transgender community and the center\u2019s peer counseling program.\n<\/p>\n

The center will also continue offering arts and culture programming at off-site locations throughout 2026, according to a release on the organization\u2019s website<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

The center\u2019s library will only be open for browsing and returns until Dec. 18. Its archive is now closed, but \u201ca plan is being developed to reopen its temporary location to the public next year,\u201d the nonprofit said.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cFor William Way, the Center has never been defined solely by a physical address; it lives wherever people come together to support, educate, uplift, and celebrate one another,\u201d Darius McLean, acting executive director of William Way, said in a statement<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":51968,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[69,71,70,27284],"class_list":["post-51967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-william-way-lgbt-community-center"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}