The recently vacated Citizens Fire House has been purchased as the new site of Joshua House.
The five-year anniversary of Joshua House, currently located on 10th Street in Tyrone, will be celebrated in November of this year, and director Jim Kilmartin said he had been looking for a new place for a couple of years now to expand the facility.
“When the fire hall became an option, it just seemed ideal for the location, the facilities, and the price,” he said.
Kilmartin added that another bonus of the location is that it is downtown for the kids to have easy access to the building, but it is not in the immediate business area.
The actual cost of the sale was not disclosed, but Kilmartin did say, “We’ve been saving for awhile and doing fundraisers like the basketball tournament. Churches gave specific money towards us getting a building.”
Kilmartin hopes to begin the move to the fire hall as early as October, and some work needs to be completed on the building. There is room for parking on the side and in the back and room enough for a basketball court to be added maybe sometime in the spring.
The first floor of the fire hall is 2,700 square feet, and the second floor is 1,650 square feet. With all that space, Kilmartin expects to add a kitchen, recreation room, lounge and computer room.
The number of teens that visit Joshua House has expanded, especially since the school year has started. On average about 30 teens a day visit the facility.
“We couldn’t get any larger where we were at, so this gives us an opportunity to expand,” said Kilmartin. “It’s a great step for us. It’s a great move ahead.”
Kilmartin is looking for interested individuals to volunteer to help with the upcoming move and expansion. If anyone would like more information, or if any individuals or organizations would like to make a financial donation to the building project, contact Kilmartin at 684-2032.
Reliance Bank is working on a selling off the rest of the Citizens Fire Company assets.
“We have three offers on the social hall,” said Reliance Bank commercial lending officer Bob Bilger. “We still have one person who wants to go through the building. We are hoping to have a deal in place by the end of September.”
Reliance has sold the engine and had a deal in place for the rescue squad.
“We have sold the engine to the Confluence Volunteer Fire Company near Somerset,” said Bilger. “We had an agreement with a fire company for the rescue squad, but they backed out of it.”
Reliance is looking to move pretty quick on the remainder of the Citizens assets.
“We are at the point where the bank will have recovered the loan,” said Bilger. “We would like to wrap things up and move forward.”
