Community Foundation Plans New Headquarters
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe Community Foundation of DeKalb County has unveiled plans for a new office building. The $400,000 investment will include meeting space and be called the Steininger Center in honor of the donor and his wife. July 17, 2013
News Release
AUBURN, Ind. – The Community Foundation of DeKalb County announced its plans to construct an office building on a portion of the former site of McIntosh High School and the Alumni Gymnasium.
The office building is a gift from Auburn native Don Steininger and his wife Kathy. It will be named the Steininger Center for the Community Foundation of DeKalb County. Don Steininger is an Auburn native and graduate of Auburn High School. His career has been spent as a commercial real estate developer in northeast Indiana.
The Steiningers made the gift as a living legacy to Don's home town. They consider that a gift to the community foundation is a gift to the entire community because of the foundation's role in local philanthropy to ensure quality of life for all.
The building will house offices for the community foundation and two meeting rooms available to local charitable organizations at no charge. One room will accommodate up to 30 people; another will seat 12. In honor of the former school gymnasium that stood on the site, memorabilia from former local schools will be displayed in an open space where people will gather before and after meetings.
“We understand that community meeting space is a precious commodity because for sixteen years the community foundation has held all of its meetings in space provided by others,” said Wendy Oberlin, the foundation's executive director. “We are very pleased that the new building will allow us to return the favor by providing this additional space for our nonprofit organizations.”
The building site, on Auburn's South Main Street, was recently gifted to the community foundation by the DeKalb Central School Corporation. The school board considered the gift to the community foundation one that would be able “to give back to the community for many years to come,” said the school’s Superintendent Dr. Sherry Grate.
The foundation is working on the building project with Mike Ley of Signature Construction. They expect to break ground in the fall and complete construction in late spring or early summer of 2014. The total cost of the project, including adjacent parking and landscaping, is expected to be $400,000.
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