Construction has begun at the future new home of the Lakeshore Humane Society.
Executive Director Tina Nichols tells Seehafernews.com that the shelter has been working for three years to put shovels in the ground and get started on building on Columbus Street, on the old Paragon Electric Property.
Nichols says a couple donated $1.5 million to start the process for the new shelter.
“From there, the ball started to roll,” she explained. “We struggled a little bit with finding the spot. And now we ended up in this great property. It’s six and a half acres right off the lake.”
The initial cost for the new shelter was $3.8 million. That has gone up to $5.4 million, but Nichols says the Lakeshore Humane Society is still doing okay.
“They are starting everything,” she described. “All the plans are in place. We’ve been dealing with A.C.E. Building Service, they’re our contractors for this. And they’ve been, they’ve been cooking along. There’s progress starting there already.”
Nichols is also grateful for the community’s support and generosity in donating to the new shelter.
“So between donations and grants and requests, we are at the spot that we are,” she reminisced. “We have a great community here. We’re very lucky.”
The current Lakeshore Humane Society building was built in the 1970’s and has run out of space for everything volunteers and staff need to do.
They cannot add to the building because of its location.
Nichols says the new shelter will prioritize the most important thing in the building: the animals.
“It’s going to be easier to care for them and give them all the things that they need in the community,” she stated. “But it’s also going to help the community because now the difference is people will be able to spend more time with the different animals. They’ll be able to see our adoptable dogs, things that you can’t do as much now with the limited facility that we have.”
Nichols says the goal is to have the shelter ready to open by the end of this year.
