The neighborhood....and us.

One of the principles that we gave our design team was that we wanted a building that “fit into the neighborhood”. A tough challenge.

The site of our building is across the street from the Chiarelli Parking Garage—a useful, but architecturally uninteresting building. Gleaning clues about architectural style from the bus station or the 3rd and Court firehouse proved equally challenging.

Instead, we looked toward the north and the real bastion of stability in the neighborhood, Zion Baptist Church. Zion Baptist, as I like to say was there when nobody cared. For 103 years, the member of that church have gathered on Sundays in the building for worship. For a long time, before the GoggleWorks, the new parking garages and the Movie Theaters, this little corner of the city was written off……except by Zion Baptist.

So we reached out to the church to form a partnership. We’ve selected materials for the building that complement the church and designed the northern side of our building so that the church doesn’t look at a blank wall.

More importantly, we’ve discussed ways to make the sites work together. The church, for instance, will use the Community Conference Center on Sundays for church programs, relieving some of the pressure that’s built up because of their rapid growth. We’ll also open our small parking lot behind the building to them for services, allowing some of their older members to avoid parking in the garage.

A few years ago, the church acquired and cleared the buildings on the rest of the block. We’ve begun discussing with them ways to work together to redevelop that site---and they may even go green!

But the best part has been the personal relationships we’ve developed. The deacons of the church have been wonderful to work with and graciously accommodating of our need to tie up a small corner of their lot while we’re doing construction. Pastor Raymond Bland, the church’s leader, has been not only a supporter of our work, but become a great friend. And every time I visit, they feed me!

As the building goes up, we’ll continue to work with all of our neighbors to make sure that, as much as possible, we’re adding to the architectural and cultural fabric of downtown Reading.