Bybee Lakes Hope Center, Wapato Property Immediate Renovation To Accomodate COVID-19 Patients
March, 2020
Jordan Schnitzer, President of Harsch Investment Properties, and Helping Hands Reentry Outreach Centers announced that they are working with the Oregon Health Authority to expedite the renovation of the Wapato property, also known as the Bybee Lakes Hope Center, in anticipation of high community need for bed spaces for patients to safely isolate and recover from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
According to state officials, it is likely that there will be a major shortage of medical bed space in the coming weeks. The Bybee Lakes Hope Center team believes this vacant property will be an asset to the regional community and the State of Oregon in response to the unprecedented public health crisis. “There will be a huge need for medical quarantine and transitional housing for those impacted by COVID-19,” said Oregon State Senator Elizabeth Steiner Hayward, a family physician on faculty at OHSU and advisory board member for the Bybee Lakes Hope Center. “Helping Hands’ Bybee Lakes building and their skilled team are a perfect fit for responding to this community crisis.”
Oregon State Senator Betsy Johnson, board member of Helping Hands Reentry Outreach Centers and advisory board member for Bybee Lakes Hope Center, underscored the sense of urgency in identifying a comprehensive response to the novel coronavirus. “This is a serious situation, and it’s time to act,” Senator Johnson said. “We have to think outside the box to develop a multi-pronged plan to increase capacity to treat the sick in our community, and the Bybee Lakes property can provide hundreds of much-needed beds.”
Jordan Schnitzer, the current owner, purchased the property in 2018 and has been working with Helping Hands to raise over $4 million dollars in private donations to renovate the site into a valuable resource for the homeless population. “COVID-19 is a crisis impacting every citizen in our state. Working with Helping Hands and the state of Oregon, I am pleased that Wapato could be used as a facility to help Oregonians survive this health emergency,” Schnitzer said.
DAY CPM was hired by Helping Hands as the Bybee Lakes Hope Center construction project management firm in February 2020. Terry Shanley, Principal at DAY CPM, and his team are working to quickly identify necessary building improvements for COVID-19 patients, including an upgraded ventilation system, utilities and equipment, and ensuring the rest of the facility can be operational as soon as possible. “It’s times like these that call for collaboration and pursuing new ideas and different solutions,” Shanley said. “DAY CPM is proud to be on this team cooperating with public and private entities to build a viable solution to this crisis.”
COVID-19 has impacted the short-term plans for Helping Hands with postponement of several community awareness and fundraising events. However, the Helping Hands team remains steadfastly committed to opening the Bybee Lakes Hope Center to serve community members experiencing homelessness as soon as it’s appropriate to do so. “Responding to the crisis is what Helping Hands does best,” said Helping Hands founder and CEO, Alan Evans. “We will open Bybee Lakes when the time is right, but for now, availability of medical beds has to be a higher priority so we’re working on a crisis response plan using this facility for the community good.”
Harsch Investment Properties and the Helping Hands team will have a timeline for expedited renovation of the facility before the end of the month and will update the community as information becomes available.
For additional information: Raven Russell, r.brown@helpinghandsreentry.org,503-298-9104 or Terry Shanley, terry.shanley@otak.com, 503-816-1718.