The Gathering Place Soup Kitchen, set to leave the Algonquin Avenue for a new location on Cassells Street, is facing some delays.
The original opening of the new and larger facility was scheduled for the fall of 2017 but Gathering Place Executive Director Dennis Chippa says that likely will not be the case.
“Paperwork has bogged us down as we are just finishing up our final designs and once that goes in then it's building permits and so forth so it’s still a paperwork thing,” said Chippa at a Gathering Place fundraiser earlier this month.
“We expect to be probably going to tender, hopefully before the new year, and we figure now it’s probably going to be a year from now before we can open up the new build but we are optimistic we will be there in a year.
“We’ve got some signage up now so people will know where the new building is and things like that because we want to keep the community informed and be very transparent in terms of what’s going on.”
The new location is considered a more ideal location which will be better suited for the clientele.
Gathering Place officials say the new facility will give them more space to operate in along with an improvement in cooking facilities and better storage area for food.
Chippa estimates the opening will take place in December of 2017.
