Editor\u2019s Note: This story has been updated to correct how long the former Sacred Heart School building has been vacant. <\/p>\n
The former Sacred Heart School on West 26th Street has sat vacant for years, but soon the old building will have people walking through its halls once again.<\/p>\n
In July, the Mercy Center for Women<\/a> announced plans to transform the former school to fight rising poverty and housing shortages in Erie County.<\/p>\n \u201cThe grand plan for the building would be to take the former classrooms, and turn them into one and two bedroom apartments, which should accommodate between 30 and 40 individuals within our community,\u201d said Jennie Hagerty, Executive Director of the Mercy Center for Women.<\/p>\n Those classrooms will turn into 19 units of permanent supportive housing, and the new building will also have an on-site food pantry.<\/p>\n \t Hagerty said they\u2019re currently working on rehabilitating the building\u2019s interior and installing a new roof, and once finished, the facility will be called the \u201cMercy Anchor Community Center West<\/a>\u201c.<\/p>\n On Tuesday, Hagerty gave a small tour of the new community center, with U.S. Congressman Mike Kelly taking a look at the first stages of the $7 million project.<\/p>\n \u201cFor me, it\u2019s an opportunity to go back to Washington and lobby for this and say, \u2018Listen, we\u2019re doing something in Erie that is incredible. Please take a look at this and let\u2019s see if we can somehow get to a point where we can get some money, get some grants that would help them finish the job,’\u201d said Mike Kelly, U.S. House Representative in Pennsylvania\u2019s 16th District.<\/p>\n
\n\t\tDiocese of Erie pledges $1.2 million to aid Triangle of Hope mission\t<\/a><\/p>\n