Finally – ground has been broken.

For Central Iowa Shelter & Services (CISS), a July 20 groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of a new facility represents a step in the right direction that was eight years in the making.

The 40,000-square-foot facility will be built just south of the current CISS facility at 205 15th St. CISS started planning for a new facility in 2003, but ran into trouble when some residents put up a fight about the proposed location at Keosauqua Way and Interstate 235.

That chapter is in the past, and the city agreed to sell land to the shelter last year to make the new space a possibility.

“With the need to serve more people in the community, and a building that’s needing to be replaced, it was just finally a great time to move forward,” said Tony Timm, executive director of CISS.

The new facility will house 150 emergency housing units, 38 Section 8 units and 19 veteran units for a total of 207, compared with the 116 in the current facility.

“For probably the last two years, we’ve been overcrowded here,” Timm said. “Each day we add more people than we have beds for.”

With much more space than the current 8,000 square feet, the new facility will stay open during the day, allowing CISS to provide educational programming and help clients through substance abuse problems, Timm said. Beyond that, it gives clients a warm place to stay during the winter and a cool place to stay during the summer for those who choose to stay indoors.

“It’s much more of an opportunity center than a shelter, moving forward,” Timm said. “Obviously we’ll still have the emergency shelter beds, and we’ll continue to serve everybody, every night, under any influence. Beyond that, in the additional programming space, and the space that we’ll have for other service providers to come in and provide those opportunities, it’s a much more hands-on approach to helping people become self-sufficient.”

Other amenities in the shelter will include a larger kitchen area, a food pantry to be used in collaboration with the Des Moines Area Religious Council and a health care space in collaboration with Primary Health Care Inc., Timm said.

The cost of land acquisition and construction will total about $12.5 million. In addition, CISS is raising $2 million through an Endow Iowa fund, which adds up to a $14.5 million capital campaign. The organization has already raised $12.5 million and is looking to make another push to complete the funding.

Timm hopes to have the new facility open a year from now.