This building project has been a marathon, not a sprint. Since committing to the design process, we have weathered a pandemic, runaway inflation, years of bureaucratic delays, and socio-political chaos while reinventing ministry outdoors and expanding from San Diego State University to UC San Diego. Whew!
Special thanks are due to all of you who kept or increased your pledges through this!
The upsides of the many challenges before us include a great deal of learning, an improved concept, a stronger financial model, value engineering to lower costs and increase revenue, and changing conditions even more in favor of our project. Most recently, we traded on-site parking to double our commercial tenant space, added back in student rooms after taking off one level, reduced spans to save steel, eliminated the roof deck for more solar panels, and lowered construction costs with a lower elevator height so the builder doesn’t need a manlift. Now we could accommodate up to 50 residents, plus more retail space to keep student rent low.
All along, our concept of community-based student housing, subsidized by commercial activity bridging to campus outreach, continues to be affirmed and needed all the more. SDSU recently announced plans to build as many as seven more buildings to house another 4,500 students and relieve crowded campus dorms, so we know that the demand for on-campus housing remains high for the foreseeable future. Students pay much more to enjoy the on-campus community experience and proximity to classes, and they frequently ask when we will open our wait-list to apply for Agape residency.
We are more hopeful than ever that the Mission Investment Fund of the ELCA will come through with the construction loan, as they have hired staff experienced in housing development who understand our concept and its strong potential as a pilot for similar projects. Our application is now being reviewed, we have a builder contract ready, and we trust we could start building this spring.
Please join your Advent prayers with the Agape community, that God will make a way in this wilderness to realize this vision of expanded faith community and outreach on campus.
Be sure to follow our news for announcements of special events as we plan to decommission and demolish the old house. We look forward to celebrating this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build on our 75-year legacy of campus ministry at SDSU, along with generations of saints before us who planted seeds, tended growth, and helped make this longed-for dream possible.
We still need about $300,000 to reach our campaign goal, so if you have the means to help with a pledge of $5,000, $10,000, $20,000, or $50,000 as we have done, you will have a key role in forming faithful emerging leaders for generations to come. Agape’s 75-year legacy of campus ministry promises to endure and expand as we are able to offer more students a 24/7 experience of leadership to grow faith community. Thank you for sharing this mission of God’s Agape on campus!
Blessings of Advent Hope,
+Darin Johnson
Campus Pastor and Executive Director
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