SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — Not a day goes by where the Rescue Mission isn’t busy but during the winter months, the need is even greater.

With their shelter full and a warehouse of donations in North Syracuse overflowing, the Mission’s simply outgrowing its current space.

“We’ve got this nice plot of land that we for years we’ve called the field of dreams and now it looks like it’s going to become the field of reality,”

Dan Sieburg, Rescue Mission CEO

That’s thanks in part to a $1 Million State grant the Rescue Mission is receiving to construct a new building. The funding is part of a larger $10 Million project to revitalize Syracuse’s Southwest neighborhood. 

Below are preliminary renderings of the new building. (Courtesy: Rescue Mission)

Half of the 50,000-square-foot building will be for warehouse space to help alleviate the influx of donations at the Mission’s North Syracuse warehouse. 

“So we get a ton of donations at this time of year as well as the spring when people are spring cleaning and we just need space to store it so we have time to process through it so this is gonna be a great opportunity for us to bring some of those jobs we have out in North Syracuse right downtown,”

Dan Sieburg, Rescue Mission CEO

The other half of the building will be mixed-use with plans to relocate the administrative offices to the new building and bring in one of their 3fifteen thrift stores that benefit the Rescue Mission. 

The hope is to have a downtown pipeline of resources where community members can drop off their donations at the warehouse, purchase recycled materials at the thrift store and then see that money poured back into the Mission’s shelter programs, meal services, case management, and housing initiatives. 

Down the road, the Rescue Mission wants to build 60 additional residential units in their current administrative office space to continue to expand access to affordable housing for those in need. 

Sieburg says the entire project will cost roughly $7 Million. He says Congressman Katko earmarked an additional $1 Million for the Mission before he left office.

The Rescue Mission hopes to receive the rest of the funding needed through donations. Construction of the new building needs to be completed within the next two years.