Former Retail Store in Waco, Texas, to Become Intergenerational Care Center. - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

By Terri Jo Ryan, Waco Tribune-Herald, Texas Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Jul. 22--WACO, Texas -- Plans to turn the shell of a retail store into an 'intergenerational care center' for a Jan. 1 grand opening are on target -- literally.

The former Target store at State Highway 6 and Sanger Avenue will become the Meyer Family Center for Intergenerational Care, a project of the 14-year-old charity Friends for Life, which seeks to help the elderly and disabled live independently, provide care for those who cannot care for themselves as well as bring the generations together to enrich lives.

Inez Russell, Friends for Life executive director, said Monday her organization has been planning for almost three years to build an intergenerational center on a 3-acre parcel on Lake Air that was offered to Friends for Life by Central Freight Lines. But when the 9-acre old Target property became available, and it cost less to create the dreamed-of center in the former retail space than it would for new construction, the organization changed its plans, Russell said. Central Freight Lines has offered its support, she added.

The former Target, built in 1981, closed in March when the new Target Greatland store opened at Bos...ue Boulevard and Wooded Acres Drive. The new store is 143,000 s...uare feet, compared with the old facility's almost 100,000 s...uare feet. The old Target building was being marketed by The Staubach Group out of Dallas. At one time, Target was asking $2.5 million for the building.

Russell said negotiations for the property have been ongoing for more than two months.

Russell said that following the projected five months of renovations for Friends for Life, the Meyer Family Center for Intergenerational Care will be the most comprehensive facility of its kind in the country.

'It is a big undertaking -- bigger than anything our charity could ever accomplish on its own,' she told a crowd about 50, who met Monday morning at the boarded-up doors of the old store. 'But God can do anything. And he is bringing so many people together to help us.'

Foremost, she said, the Paul and Jane Meyer family has pledged $1 million to this project.

Architect B. J. Greaves donated his time to design a 'first of its kind' facility that aspires to be a model for the country.

His design employs the space to create three separate centers that will be licensed to care for a total of 240 adults. It will offer programs for people with Alzheimer's or other dementia, others who have need for skilled nursing and those who are well, but frail.

The Meyer Family Center will house the Early Childhood Education Center, licensed to care for 160 children from ages 2 months to 5 years, and designed to meet the re...uirements for national accreditation. An after-school program and a program for children with disabilities are in the works, Russell said.

'Our intergenerational center will have a therapeutic garden, a music room, a model train room, an art center, a library and a computer lab,' she said. All its other programs -- legal guardianship, money management, independent living, ...uality of life and interfaith programs -- also will move into the building, she added. An education center can provide ongoing training for staff, volunteers, family caregivers and health-care professionals in the community.

'I'm hoping the community will be excited by the facility being used again,' Greaves said.

Russell said WCI Texas is doing the renovation work at a discounted rate, and its design/build team plans to complete the work by the end of the year. The Clifton Foundation, the Waco Foundation and the Lacy Foundation have made commitments, and business and individuals are helping, Russell said.

AOL Time Warner is providing a computer lab where older adults and children will learn computer skills together. McDonald's is donating an indoor playground. Roland Digital Pianos and the Waco Piano Education Center are outfitting the music room, and Archiscape is donating landscaping services, Russell said. Other gifts from the community are welcomed, she added.

The 30,000-s...uare-foot portion of the building that will not be used by Friends for Life will be offered for lease, as a way to help fund the organization's work, Russell said. Compatible uses, such as medical office and health care e...uipment, or the offices of other area nonprofit groups, are being explored.

Russell said she looks forward to the day that the Meyer Family Center is transformed into 'a very special place -- a place where our entire community can be a part of bringing older adults and children together every day; to learn from each other, to love one another, to connect the generations.'

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(c) 2003, Waco Tribune-Herald, Texas. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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