Photo by Zachary Siebert / St. Joseph News-Press / Purchase this photo

Movers Leo Sanchez, top, and Jose Alfaro transport boxes of office supplies Thursday from the moving van into the new Family Guidance Center for Behavioral Healthcare building at 724 N. 22nd St.

Movers and workers put the finishing pieces in place Thursday morning on the new Family Guidance Center for Behavioral Healthcare building. The shiny, beige 35,000-square-foot structure at 724 N. 22nd St. opens for business at its new facility Monday morning.

Garry Hammond, Family Guidance Center president and chief executive officer, said the new location gives the organization more visibility than its current location at 510 Francis St. It’s also larger than the current 30,000-square-foot facility and located on two floors instead of five. Family Guidance Center has been located on Francis Street in the Pioneer Building since 1998.

“Even though we’ve been in business for 100 years, we’ve never had a very visible identity in the community because where we were located, it’s just an old office building and people don’t recognize it,” he said. “Here, people are going to know we are here, and we want to use our visibility and location to help address the whole stigma with mental health.”

Mr. Hammond said the new facility cost about $2.9 million to build, with the money coming from an industrial revenue bond. F.C. Stone, a brokerage firm in Kansas City, donated about $150,000 worth of slightly used office furniture for the new facility.

The top level of the new Family Guidance Center will house children and family services. The lower level is designed for adult services and a primary heath care examiner. There’s also a community room in the new facility for public meetings, training and information.

A pharmacy, day treatment center and elderly services are planned in the future.

The new location allows his 120-member staff to better provide services for its constituents, Mr. Hammond said.

He said the Family Guidance Center board of directors ruled out moving to the East Side of town because many of its constituents live in the Midtown and Downtown areas. He also said the new location will be an economic asset to nearby businesses as well as a service to its clients.

“It will be an economic boon for grocery stores, restaurants ... because a lot of our staff, after they get off work, will go across the street and get what they’re going to get for dinner that night,” Mr. Hammond said.

Kovac’s grocery store is across the street. Mary Logan, a bookkeeper at the grocery store, said more people moving into the area would do nothing but help business.

“I don’t see how it would hurt us,” she said. “Every time you get more people around, it helps your business.”

Sheltering Arms, one of Family Guidance’s semi-independent living centers, opened around the corner at 1901 Mulberry St. last summer.

Family Guidance also bought the old Meierhoffer Funeral Home & Crematory property and turned it into a parking facility for staff and clients for its new facility. Mr. Hammond said that investment shows the organization’s commitment to the community.

“If you look between the Mulberry apartments and this place, we’ve invested close to $6 million in this neighborhood,” he said.

Family Guidance will continue to operate the center’s Family Planning Services at 1322 N. 36th St., the Chemical Dependency Services at 901 Felix St. and the Children and Youth Day Treatment programs at 3400 Frederick Ave.

Last year, Family Guidance served a total of 8,322 adults and children through its family planning, crisis intervention and other mental health services.

Alonzo Weston can be reached

at alonzow@npgco.com