Tours will show off Stanislaus Veterans Center on Friday
One cause for celebration on Veterans Day is a new center in Modesto that will provide a long-awaited meeting hall and one-stop services hub for veterans in Stanislaus County.
Veterans and other members of the public can tour the emerging facilities Friday at the Stanislaus Veterans Center in the Sylvan Square Shopping Center, at the northeast corner of Sylvan Avenue and Coffee Road.
Local officials were unable to complete remodeling for the 37,500-square-foot veterans center for an opening on Veterans Day. The remodeling is halfway finished. The county Veterans Services Office is expected to move to the north Modesto center by the end of January, said Patty Hill Thomas, county chief operations officer.
The Veterans Foundation of Stanislaus County is talking about a grand opening for the banquet facilities in March.
The county, city of Modesto, Veterans Advisory Commission and Veterans Foundation teamed to develop the center for the 27,000 veterans in Stanislaus County. The veterans center will operate under a 10-year lease with Sylvan Square LLC, owned by Stone Bros. Management of Stockton.
The annual rent for the veterans hall and conference rooms will be $321,920. The rent for the county offices at the center will be $313,375 a year.
On Friday, a recognition program will be held at 3:30 p.m., after which people can tour facilities that are under construction. The event was planned around the schedules for other Veterans Day events.
The center will include a 315-seat hall for dinners and dances, a kitchen, lounge, seven-room conference center and offices for county Veterans Services, the Area Agency on Aging, Adult Protective Services, In-Home Supportive Services, and a transportation system for eligible veterans and seniors.
Seven other sites were considered for the center before the Sylvan Square location was approved in April.
Ken Carlson: 209-578-2321
This story was originally published November 8, 2016 at 5:31 PM with the headline "Tours will show off Stanislaus Veterans Center on Friday."