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OCTOBER 24 • 2019 | 31
Major
Tenant
JVS will play a key
role in job training and
placement for Detroiters
needing work.
STACY GITTLEMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
T
he friendly receptionist who greets
you in the cavernous entry hall
of the Durfee Innovation Society
(DIS) on Detroit’
s west side says it best
when describing the building that once
housed the Durfee Intermediate School:
“She’
s a beautiful beast.”
They don’
t make school buildings like
this anymore. Its Gothic style features
soaring windows, a hardwood gymna-
sium, wide hallways with ornate crown
molding and architectural details through-
out. There is even a decaying, marble-lad-
en swimming pool that has the potential
to be restored for a community swim club
if the right donor comes along.
In October, the school-turned-training/
social services incubator will welcome JVS
Human Services and ResCare Workforce
Services as its newest and biggest
tenant. JVS Human Services announced
July 29 it has been awarded a $3.5 million
joint contract with national employment
services agency ResCare Workforce
Services by the Detroit Employment
Solutions Corporation (DESC) to move
into a 10,000-square-foot space inside
Durfee.
The award also includes funding for
operating the Detroit at Work “WorkForce
e
munity of mostly African American home-
owners was initially suspicious as to why a
white developer wanted to buy such a large
piece of property in a predominantly African
American neighborhood. He said at town hall
meetings they feared it would be just another
sign of gentrification, an opening of shops
and restaurants that the locals would not
patronize, need or afford.
“To succeed and win the trust of the local
residents, the center would need to take
a holistic approach to improving the very
community where people live by providing a
host of financial, job and education training
as well as social services and some arts pro-
gramming,” Lambert said.
As of August, Life Remodeled is working to
raise the last $1.3 million of the $4.9 million
budgeted to complete the renovations.
Funding also comes from charging rent.
To be a tenant at Durfee, Lambert explained,
they must fall into three categories: edu-
cation, workforce development or human
services. Lambert keeps rent slightly under
what the current market rate will bear at $15
per square foot, which is slightly lower than
Downtown rates that average about $19 per
square foot.
At press time, Durfee is 89 percent occu-
pied and growing, he said.
— Stacy Gittleman, contributing writer
Built in 1927, the Gothic-style
Durfee Intermediate School now
is home to a host of social ser-
vice agencies helping Detroiters
live better lives.
DERRICK MARTINEZ
DERRICK MARTINEZ
LIFE REMODELED