Holy Rosary Catholic Parish in Edmonds has embarked on a $4.7 million fund-raising campaign to realize its dream of constructing a new 21,000-square-foot Parish Center.
Construction should start within the next 12 months, with completion expected by the spring of 2012, said the Rev. Kenneth Haydock, pastor. “People from the Edmonds community have visited us to attend funerals and weddings as well as to play pinochle and bridge. Our chapter of the St. Vincent de Paul Society runs our food bank and clothing bank that serve 200 people a month. The new parish center will allow us to expand our ministries, including those that touch the lives of the general Edmonds community,” he said.
The meeting areas will be available for scheduled use by non-profit groups exempt from property taxes, said John Russell, parish administrator. Fees would be limited to recovering parish costs, utilities and depreciation, he said.
The parish, located at 630 7th Ave. N., is the religious center for some 1,800 families. The new Parish Center Building will be built because the current structure, built as a residence for the nuns who founded Holy Rosary School, is inadequate in size and doesn’t meet seismic, energy and fire codes. It also does not meet modern regulations for access by the disabled and has issues with moisture and asbestos.
Parish leaders have asked families to pledge funds for the new building, and more than 50 members have already volunteered to help raise the money.
About $700,000 of the $4.7 million will go toward paying off debt from a previous school renovation project. The rest will go into the new construction. Engineering and architecture work has already been completed, thanks to an earlier fund-raising drive. The parish has recently applied for a building permit from the City of Edmonds and will soon be seeking construction bids for the project.
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