If you’ve driven on Bridge Boulevard in Albuquerque’s South Valley lately, you may have spotted a massive structure under construction.
It’s the Casa De Corazon building, a $4 million project by Catholic Charities that will allow the nonprofit to expand its services. Albuquerque-based NCA Architects designed the project, and Bradbury Stamm Construction, also based locally, is building it.
The project started as a two-story, 22,000-square-foot center. It’s since expanded to a three-story, 36,500-square-foot project that’s being built at 2010 Bridge Blvd. SW.
The new facility, expected to open in December, will house many of Catholic Charities’ programs. Catholic Charities, under the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, serves about 12,500 people per year with housing assistance, immigration legal services, refugee resettlement services, adult education and other services.
The building will also allow the organization to double the amount of children in its early childhood education program. The national nonprofit KaBOOM!, which provides funding for new playgrounds in areas of poverty, will also build a children’s playground next to the center.
Catholic Charities raised most of the money to build the new service center. The project also got a boost from Bernalillo County when county commissioners approved $3 million in industrial revenue bonds to help fund the project.