Renovations are in the final stretch, but the organization still needs additional financial support.

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Mission 911, a nonprofit that has served people in Corpus Christi for more than 25 years is one step closer to opening a new facility on the city’s Northside.

RELATED: Mission 911 celebrates 25 years of service to the Coastal Bend

The organization offered a first look inside the 6,000-square-foot space they are repurposing inside a shopping center off Old Robstown Road and Up River Road, not far from Miller High School. The total project cost is just over half a million dollars.

Founder Tony Reyes said the location was chosen intentionally right in the heart of a community that has long felt overlooked.

The space, once a closed-down grocery store, is in the middle of active construction. During a walk-through of the progress, Mission 911 founder Tony Reyes said the goal is to create a “one stop shop” for people seeking help.

“It’s the one stop shop mentality what we are trying to do here,” Reyes said.

Standing near what will be the new clothing closet area, he added: “What we are planning to do here, is as people come in, we’ll have our clothing closet here.”

Reyes said the new building will focus on one-on-one case management and will include offices, private counseling areas, and a large multi-purpose community room.

“We’re trying to get the neighborhood more involved, this is an area where we will make this happen,” he said.

The location sits next to a laundromat, a place where nearby residents Elisa Campos and Larry Treviño told 3NEWS they are glad to see new life coming into the long-vacant shopping center.

“I think it’s good I mean for the community,” Campos said.

Treviño echoed that. “This is probably one of the sides of Corpus that doesn’t get much attention, when it comes to things like that, so when people come together when you open things abandoned, renovate it and make it good for the community makes it awesome,” he said.

Reyes said reactions like that are exactly why Mission 911 selected the new location.

“Our objective is to help people on the North Side,” he said.

Caseworkers at Mission 911’s current Park Avenue location say they’re eager to move into the expanded building. Donna Lamontagne, Director of Case Management, said the upgrade is long overdue.

“We’ve had this 25 years but time for a new larger space for our case management, a larger no-leak clothing closet, we’re all excited about that one,” she said.

Mission 911 hopes to eventually bring other nonprofits into the shopping center, turning it into a campus where community services can work together.

But despite the progress, funding remains a challenge. Renovations are in the final stretch, but the organization still needs additional financial support.

“We’re still short about $300,000. We had anonymous donors give $150,000 so if someone can help with the other $150,000 we’ll finish this project and be ready to roll,” Reyes said.

Mission 911 raised more than $58,000 during Day of Giving, but by rule, none of that money can go toward construction. Reyes said they’re ready to begin serving the community as soon as the new doors open.

Once operational, the nonprofit said the new facility will allow them to help even more residents with needs such as paying water and electric bills.

If the final round of funding comes through, Mission 911 hopes to open by the end of the year or early January.