Selmer gives shelter a home

Selmer Field Superintendent Dennis Fullerton works a Sky Track at the New Community Shelter project in Green Bay. Photos courtesy of The Selmer Company

Sometimes even a homeless shelter needs help finding a home.

The New Community Shelter in Green Bay put up with the quirks of its 130-year-old building for as long as it could, but the creaky mechanicals and temperamental heating and cooling systems finally pushed the staff of the shelter too far. It was time to relocate.

"When you're in a building that's more than 130 years old, you end up dealing with main-
tenance issues every single day," said Terri Refs-guard, executive director of the shelter.

So the group hired local contractor The Selmer Company in March to build it a new home.

Selmer is in the process of complying with that request, constructing a 29,000-square-foot, three-story shelter along the Fox River just two blocks away from the existing building. Selmer is handling the masonry, carpentry, steel erection and essentially managing all the finishing trades on the project.

Tyle Treml, project manager for Selmer, said that, so far, everything is right on track. By midsummer, the contractor expected to have a watertight building. Interior framing should be done, and the crew should be working on the building's brick veneer and starting the finishing trades.

Once it's completed, the new building will allow New Community to expand on its available emergency beds, transition apartments, meal program and clinic space. When the group makes its move, it will go from not having any meeting or classroom space to having a computer lab, classroom and boardroom.

"We are excited beyond explanation," Refs-guard said. "It's unique because the construction industry and these companies are as committed to the New Community Shelter as they are to the project itself. Many of these same companies and individuals support us throughout the year."

For Selmer's part, joining the project offered the company a chance to help its community and work with good people, Treml said.

"There was kind of a partnership between the Cornerstone Foundation and the city of Green Bay to make this happen," he said. "We saw the way the city handled it, and we wanted to be associated with people working together and doing the right thing in this business."

- Chris Thompson