Rebuild Bay details repairs, services and lease changes at AD Harris Learning Village

Donna Pilson, executive director of Rebuild Bay, gave the CRA a progress report on the AD Harris Learning Village, describing repairs completed, new community services and remaining infrastructure needs.

Pilson said Rebuild Bay’s team worked through ‘‘about a year and a half’’ of assessments and prioritized stabilizing operations and programming. ‘‘It’s such a great opportunity to do something with that facility,’’ she said, and listed completed work in the kitchen (a new freezer and an upgraded fire-suppression system) and the installation of four tankless water heaters. She said the organization submitted delayed-maintenance receipts to the CRA for reimbursement and leveraged donated labor and rebates to cut costs.

Pilson said the campus continues to reveal maintenance problems as it is used more: recurring plumbing backups have affected toilets and kitchen distributions, at one point covering the kitchen floor with water. She reported that city maintenance had been asked to review the plumbing and electrical systems and recommended tracing and relabeling breaker boxes so staff know which circuits control which areas.

Rebuild Bay has also started services on site. ‘‘We have established a food pantry. Super super super excited about that,’’ Pilson said, noting weekly distributions and a new hot-meal partnership. A soft opening for intake and case management runs two days a week as the group prepares to operate a community resilience center later this year. Pilson described plans for a ‘‘digital lift zone’’ in the media center so residents can use computers to apply for services and access training partners, and said Rebuild Bay is in talks with organizations such as Haney about bringing HVAC and other workforce classes to the facility.

On tenant strategy, Pilson said that most leases Rebuild Bay assumed were five-year contracts now expire this year. To balance income and community use, the organization plans to offer up to two-year leases to current nonprofit tenants, and in some cases reconfigure space and step up rates toward market levels—currently around $5 to nearly $10 per square foot. ‘‘For the model to work, we have to have some long-term lease space as well as some open space for community activities,’’ she said.

Pilson also described near-term financial progress: early operational changes reduced a monthly deficit and yielded net improvements—‘‘we were saving about $1,000 a month and then we increased our revenue about $1,300 a month,’’ she said—so the Rebuild Bay board is preparing to propose a management fee now that the operation is approaching sustainability.

Commissioners praised the activation of the underused facility and asked how the city could help. Pilson pointed to campus piping as the largest outstanding need: ‘‘Those major issues like the piping across the campus is something that we definitely need some help with,’’ she said, asking for city maintenance support and long-term solutions that will surface as the facility’s use grows.

Pilson highlighted operational supports from volunteers and partners: donated electrical work, furniture and equipment provided by CareerSource Gulf Coast after its relocation, and a volunteer-staff member, Carlton, who now handles field coordination and repair negotiations. Pilson said small, hands-on management choices—such as reducing unnecessary trash pickups—helped improve the center’s finances.

Looking forward, Pilson said Rebuild Bay expects to continue expanding programming (including a possible STEM camp and summer feeding programs) and to open the resilience center fully after summer, contingent on closing out maintenance tasks and completing the HRP paving and campus fence work that will reduce foot-traffic pressure and address damaged fencing.

The workshop concluded with commissioners agreeing to provide case studies and to continue discussion on how CRA funds can support facilities like AD Harris.