Background and the need for our own building.

Since 2010, Crossroads has enjoyed our location on North Westcott Road in Schenectady. We lease 25,000 sq ft of space in our current building for all 12 months of the year. The building has long served its purpose; it was originally built as an office building, and was retrofitted for us when a watermain break devastated the previous building we leased space in. We have always been grateful to have a place to provide services but the space has significant inefficiencies and does not belong to Crossroads.

Our Board and Executive Director have long discussed the pros and cons of owning versus leasing, and about 3 years ago, with our lease end in sight, and the availability of a near-perfect building opening, the timing was right to decide to move forward. This particular site is an opportunity that cannot be ignored, one that will give our children the best environment for learning, growing, and succeeding.

The building we are in the process of purchasing is just about 2 miles west of our current site. It was built as a school and with individuals with disabilities in mind and has been unoccupied since Covid shutdowns were in effect. It has ample green space, an outdoor courtyard with raised garden beds, dedicated gym space, high ceilings, wide hallways, lots of light, classrooms with bathrooms, administrative offices, conference rooms, a welcoming reception area, a loading dock, and so much room to grow planfully and strategically in the future. We envision being able to more effectively serve our community, collaborate with other organizations, and most of all be a welcoming and enriching center of education and therapy for our children and families.

The space, 22,000 square feet, is smaller than our current space, but by constructing an additional wing, and restructuring some of the spaces, all of our current classrooms, therapies, and offices will fit, and it will cost us less per square foot. The entire project – purchase, addition construction, fit up – is estimated to cost 9.2 million dollars, so a decision to phase the project and complete essential aspects only in this first phase has been made, bringing our costs down to 7.4 million. We were hoping to finance up to 5.4, however, that number has decreased, so the scope of Phase 1 has along with it. While we have plentiful ideas and plans for future phases, phase 1 will strictly involve the purchase of the building, rehab of several spaces, and a new addition to fit our current population. Our campaign fundraising goal is $2 million. The project will save Crossroads money overall in the future every month.

This project is getting underway soon. We are currently awaiting some final approvals, and hope to close on the building in late January if all goes as planned. There is work to do on the fronts of fundraising and construction before we are ready to move into our new location, which we hope to do in September 2024.   While we ensure that all of the conditions pass approval, costs are already adding up for work by engineers, consultants, legal fees, and so on. We are grateful for our early, grassroots-level donors for investing in the future of Crossroads from the start of our conversations, and to the many who have become involved along the way.  We are excited about gaining new supporters and invite anyone with an interest to connect.