Dirt moving for new Encircle facility geared to LGBTQ youth – Standard-Examiner
1 / 5
The site of an Encircle facility for LGBTQ youth and young adults, taking shape at 2458 Washington Blvd. Work started in early May 2022.
Photo supplied, Nilson Homes
2 / 5
A rendering of the Encircle facility for LGBTQ youth and young adults, taking shape at 2458 Washington Blvd. Work started in early May 2022.
Photo supplied, Nilson Homes
3 / 5
The site of an Encircle facility for LGBTQ youth and young adults, taking shape at 2458 Washington Blvd. Work started in early May 2022.
Photo supplied, Nilson Homes
4 / 5
Construction has started on the Encircle home for LGBTQ young people located at 2458 Washington Blvd. by the OGX bus rapid transit stop, also under construction. Construction was originally planned to start in October 2021, but now the expected completion date is in late 2022.
Dennis Montgomery, Special to the Standard-Examiner
5 / 5
The site of an Encircle facility for LGBTQ youth and young adults, taking shape at 2458 Washington Blvd. Work started in early May 2022.
Photo supplied, Nilson Homes
OGDEN — Work has started on a planned new facility geared to LGBTQ youth and young adults more than a year after a groundbreaking ceremony that was to serve as the project kickoff.
The Encircle facility is to be built at 2458 Washington Blvd., just north of 25th Street on what was a vacant grassy lot on the east side of Washington Boulevard.
“Construction started around the first of May. We currently have the foundation in and will start framing in the next week or so, so, yes, we are fully underway,” said Roger Bess, vice president of preconstruction with Nilson Homes, which is handling construction.
Leaders from around Ogden and Weber County gathered March 25, 2021, for a groundbreaking ceremony on the facility, but only now is actual work moving forward. Development of a new stop in front of the Encircle site for the Utah Transit Authority bus rapid transit system that’s taking shape in Ogden figured in the delayed start of work.
“The BRT didn’t necessarily cause a direct delay but did influence our decision to wait a little for better weather,” Bess said.
Bess said the three-level facility will feature a music room and cafe on the ground level, an art room and other rooms on the second floor and therapy rooms on the top level. A terrace will sit on the roof while a patio is planned for the rear, eastern side of the structure, which will measure around 4,800 square feet.
The building design has changed somewhat — but not a lot — from the original vision. “There are a few details with the stairs, railings and planters that are different, but the building itself is still similar,” Bess said.
Work is to finish by year’s end. The facility “will open as soon as we’re done, for sure,” Bess said.
The $1.5 million Encircle facility, joining others around Utah, will serve lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer youth and young adults. Encircle offers counseling to the LGBTQ community and their family members. Its facilities also serve as gathering places and safe spaces for LGBTQ teens and young adults.
The nonprofit organization already has centers in Provo, Salt Lake City and St. George, with nine more in varying states of development, including the Ogden facility.