First came the announcement of a $500,00 grant. A couple of weeks later, another award was for triple that amount.
All of which means that money available toward fulfilling the vision of the Etna Center for Community stands at just under $6 million.
“That allows us to do the project that we want to do,” Megan Tuñón said. “We don’t have to skimp or leave things for later.”
She is executive director of the Etna Community Organization, which has the mission of improving the quality of life for borough residents. The nonprofit’s top goal is establishing a gathering place that will include a library, something the municipality has lacked for a couple of decades.
A three-story Butler Street building that dates to the 1870s is the site for the center, featuring 3,400 square feet available to the public on the first floor. The top two stories will be converted into apartments, and a courtyard is planned for the rear of the property, with the picturesque First Congregational Church of Etna visible across Locust Street.
Further renovations include demolishing an addition at the back of the original structure, to be replaced with a one-story area that includes a multiple-use Great Room. As an initial step in the process, hazardous waste company Triton performed asbestos remediation.
“We just put out the first bids for the demolition, so that will be the official start,” Tuñón said. “Once that’s cleared out, we’re going to do an official groundbreaking ceremony.”
She estimates completion toward the end of 2025.
‘Huge for us’
The project is the recipient of a $1.5 million grant, announced by state officials Nov. 1, through the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program “for the design, acquisition and construction of regional economic, cultural, civic, recreational and historical improvement projects.”
In mid-October, half a million dollars was awarded as part of the Multipurpose Community Facilities Program, funded by the Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund established under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.
“That’s huge for us, and it’s actually pretty well-needed, because our budget just keeps growing with the increasing construction costs,” Tuñón said, noting that initial estimates were between $3.5 million and $4 million. “We were thinking maybe we wouldn’t finish the courtyard or not be able to finish the apartments. But now we can finish everything and have it all up and running.”
She and her husband, Robert, bought the historic H.W. Ochse Building in 2017, three years after they moved to Etna.
“We had the idea of, we want to put a library here. We just didn’t have a plan yet, so we kind of put a pin in it,” Megan said. “It was, at the time, fully occupied by residents, so I became a very reluctant landlady for a while. And those residents just kind of moved out and moved on over the years.”
‘Vision for the future’
In the meantime, Etna embarked on a project that resulted in the borough becoming the nation’s first certified EcoDistrict as a community engaged in sustainable planning on a wide-reaching scale. The effort’s areas of focus are water, air quality, mobility, energy, food and social equity.
“We held 36 free, open-to the public events and engaged over 400 residents during that time to try to get as much feedback as we could about what their vision for the future is,” Tuñón explained. “The No. 1 priority project that emerged from that process was the library and community center, a place where we can access resources and access each other.”
She took over as Etna Community Organization executive director in December 2020, when founding director Alexis Boytim stepped down to pursue a career in environmental research.
In August 2022, the Tuñóns sold the Ochse Building to the ECO for the same price they paid for the property half a decade earlier.
Both serve Etna in official capacities: Megan as a member of borough council, representing Ward 1 since 2018, and Robert as mayor, succeeding the late Tom Rengers this year.
Robert, a partner and principal at architecture and urban design firm Rothschild Doyno Collaborative, has lent his expertise to borough endeavors, as have volunteers who serve on the Etna Community Organization board.
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“They all bring something really valuable to the table, a lot of really good professionals on there,” Megan said.
With the recent boost to Etna Center for Community finances, she looks forward to seeing the project to fruition:
“This community went for a long time without a lot of investment, and so we really wanted to bring a facility here that we feel like our residents deserve.”
For more information, visit https://www.etnacommunity.org/.