News Photo by Reagan Voetberg Sunrise Centre Executive Director Madeleine McConnell stands beside a rendering of the plans for what the new facility will look like once constructed.

ALPENA — The Sunrise Centre, a drug and alcohol addiction treatment and recovery center in Alpena, is waiting on approval for a loan from the United States Department of Agriculture to break ground on their new facility after nearly two years of planning and waiting.

The cost of the facility is $6.8 million. Madeleine McConnell, Sunrise Centre executive director, said that they plan to fundraise $1.5 million for the project and have already raised about $400,000. Another portion of the funding will come from a loan from the USDA.

“The USDA process has been extensive and jumping through the many hoops that they have required has taken longer than we anticipated,” McConnell said.

They had planned to break ground on the project last spring, but the loan process has caused a delay.

“Our hope is, if we can meet the requirements this year, we may still be able to break ground this year,” she said.

Community members and businesses can sponsor various spaces in the new facility. Besser Company, for instance, has sponsored the waiting room. When someone sponsors a room, a permanent plaque will be hung on the wall of that space, McConnell said. Sponsors can choose to personalize the plaques with their names, another’s name(s), or a quote they want to share.

In January, they had a couple sponsor the first female dorm room. Someone also sponsored the first male dorm room. Other spaces have been sponsored along the way.

“We have also a wide range of spaces that are still available for sponsorship,” McConnell said.

The new building will be built in the soccer fields behind the old one, which is a former religious convent. Once the new facility is built, the old one will be torn down to pave a parking lot. It will be built with a slight angle towards Walnut Street.

The new building is necessary to create more space for residents, visitors, and staff members.

“We don’t have enough office space and the condition of the building is not what our residents deserve it to be,” McConnell said. “It’s a very dated facility.”

“We want a more modernized health and wellness-focused facility to receive their treatment in,” she continued.

In the new building, Sunrise Centre will be able to offer more medically monitored withdrawal management services than what their current facility can accommodate.

Currently, they are operating out of two buildings, one with female dorms and the other with male dorms. The new facility will have two wings, one for male dorms and treatment, and one female, all in one space.

The new facility will also include amenities that the current building does not have. The basement will include an exercise and recreation space, McConnell said.

They will be increasing the number of detox beds available for withdrawal management. The number of outpatient group rooms available will be increasing. They currently only have one.

The layout of the new facility will ensure better organization and efficiency. It will also be ADA-compliant so that people of all physical abilities can access services.

“We have a generous community here,” McConnell said. “People are asked to give a lot and often to the many important causes around town, and our organization doesn’t have a history of fundraising, so it’s a slow and steady process.

“We’ve had some wonderful, very generous donors in the community step up to support, and we have a lot of additional opportunity for people to do that.

“It’s really, really important that rural areas like ours improve and increase accessibility to healthy treatment spaces,” McConnell concluded.

Reagan Voetberg can be reached at 989-358-5683 or rvoetberg@TheAlpenaNews.com.