“We feel good about it. We feel confident. I’m hoping that we find some good bids,” Larsen said. “I’m hoping to be able to break ground as soon as the ground thaws.”

Having taken on the South Broadway development started by Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota, Project BEE has injected a few touches of its own into the design for a family homeless shelter, low- to moderate-income apartments and space for a food pantry and soup kitchen.

“I use the word resource hub a lot,” Larsen said. “That is what Broadway Circle is going to be.”

Project BEE still looks to raise $2.2 million toward a campaign goal of $8 million to cover the project’s estimated cost. Funds raised include $5.8 million being provided as a grant through the City of Minot’s National Disaster Resilience Program.

Submitted Photo A rendering by EAPC shows the proposed new food pantry location for the Lord’s Cupboard.

Project BEE has just launched a brick campaign in which donors can purchase a name-engraved brick for $100 or name-engraved brick with clipart for $125 to be displayed at the new Broadway Circle. Information is available at projectbeend.org/broad way-circle/.

Project BEE is aiming for a mid-2023 completion date for Broadway Circle. The NDR grant must be spent by September 2023.

Broadway Circle will create a new home for the Lord’s Cupboard food pantry and enable the organization to operate a soup kitchen.

“I know that they will be working with a lot of sponsors and businesses and encouraging groups to come in and prepare the food under their management,” Larsen said.

As a run-up to future services, the Lord’s Cupboard has been serving a meal at the Project BEE shelter once a week. Its services at Broadway Circle will complement the family homeless shelter, which will be able to accommodate up to six families in individual, pet-friendly, apartment-like units of two or three bedrooms.

“People get that privacy. They get dignity,” Larsen said. Residents will have access to any resources needed, whether that is childcare, transportation, job skill training or help with job resumes.

The shelter will be staffed, as is the shelter Project BEE currently operates in downtown Minot. It has six apartments available to families that always are full, Larsen said. Broadway Circle is designed to address a need identified in the community when the city sought the NDR grant. Larsen said the need goes beyond Minot into western North Dakota.

“I would love to do so much more,” Larsen said. “I think six units is a start but, unfortunately, I don’t know if it will completely solve it, but at least it’ll put us in a position where we can serve those families 100%.”

Broadway Circle will include a 17-unit housing complex with studio and one- and two-bedroom units. Larsen said Project BEE plans to operate the units as permanent supportive housing, giving residents access to its case management and other services.

Broadway Circle will have leased commercial properties that will help support operational expenses. In addition to an existing restaurant, another existing building will have some commercial space fronting Broadway. The resource hub services will be on the back side of the property. A city bus stop will be on the Broadway side.

“There’s going to be some green space, a little playground area. It’s going to be fully fenced in,” Larsen said. Displayed at the playground will be bricks sold in the fundraising campaign, along with bricks previously sold in 2011 by Project BEE’s predecessor, the YWCA, for a daycare project that had to be abandoned.

Larsen said Project BEE has been in a capacity-building mode to ramp up its staffing to operate Broadway Circle. Even after Broadway Circle is completed. Project BEE plans to maintain services at its downtown location, including its diaper pantry, clothing closet, shower program and shelter services for individuals.