Grand Success + Wrap Up

Thanks to everyone who came out to our Grand Opening party - all 450 of you! We had a full house and we were so excited to show you all our new building.

We had a short program with hymns, a few speeches and a ribbon cutting, followed by pie! There are lots more photos on Facebook.

It was fun to celebrate our lovely space and breathe a sigh of relief that the construction is over, finally.

Except that's not really how these things work! As the venerable Paul Penner is fond of saying these days, "Construction projects don't really end, they just kind peter out."

We found that out last week as a section of our lot got repaved.

There are still a few odds and ends to figure out, like a few office renovations and some tweaking of the water pressure in the new sinks, for instance.

One more detail we need to think about is who will maintain our new landscaping for us ...

Looks like the geese have that covered!

Those little details always take longer than you think they will. One day we'll realize, "There haven't been any construction workers around for a couple weeks. We must be done!" 

Thanks for journeying with us through construction, either through your donation to the Next Chapter Campaign, or through your interest in our updates, or your patience as you visited us during the chaos. It's been fun and now we're on to other things. Come and see us soon!

Grand Opening Next Weekend!

A flurry of finishing touches are happening around Grebel as we prepare to welcome all of you for our Grand Opening next Sunday, June 22. Please join us starting at 2 pm with the program beginning at 3 pm, followed by a reception and tours. From new signage to landscaping to new furniture, our space looks more finished and welcoming every day. See a preview below and join us for the real thing in 9 days!

The landscaping makes everything look a bit friendlier and more finished. We've gotten some good rain the past few days so the new plants and trees should have a good start here at Grebel.

The new study carrels in the bright, open library space will be very popular with students come September! The library staff is working very hard to get everything in place for next weekend. They've had just a few short weeks to move into their renovated space and pull everything together.

The buzz space and grad hive are already favourites due to their elegant functionality and inviting atmosphere. The grad students can hardly wait to start using their new room with couches and lockers.

We'll be waiting for you next Sunday! Come on in!

Welcome to Project Ploughshares!

A big welcome to Project Ploughshares, our newest neighbours in the MSCU Centre for Peace Advancement. Project Ploughshares moved in last weekend and have been busy this week getting their space set up. Their arrival has done a lot towards making the fourth floor feel lived-in and animated.

We also received our occupancy permit for the renovated section of the library, so the librarians are busily moving the stacks back in. We're still waiting on occupancy in the renovated music offices and the new commuter shower downstairs. The landscapers are here in full force replacing sod with lift tracks in it and laying down topsoil.

Looking forward to seeing you all here in just a couple short weeks!

Signage

The outside of our beautiful new building is finally done! It looks just like the artist's rendering.

Now that most of the big matters are taken care of, we can turn our attention to helping people navigate our gorgeous new building. We've been spending lots of time on signage these days. 

Welcome to the Mennonite Savings and Credit Union Centre for Peace Advancement!

Grebel is happy to present the MSCU Centre for Peace Advancement! We got occupancy earlier this week. Everyone has already been hard at work getting it ready to go. This is the view from the fourth floor bridge.

Our Peace Camp staff, Maddie and Katie, graciously doubled as banner-hangers in the new gallery space. Grebel is hosting an peace exhibit entitled "Bertha von Suttner: A Life of Peace" for the summer. Come by and check it out!

The Grebel staff enjoy the buzz space. Through the doorway to the left is the new graduate student lounge.

Last but certainly not least, Tamarack, our first CPA guests to move in, are busy getting settled in their new office. It's exciting to have new friends upstairs!

We are almost there, folks! There will likely be updates for another couple months as the library and music office renovations are completed, the landscaping and paving is completed, signage goes up and we hold open houses. But then that will be the end of this blog! Thanks for being part of The Next Chapter at Grebel. We hope to see you on June 22 to celebrate this new building!

Coming Together

Grebel is now in the stage where everything is starting to come together. Odds and ends are being finished up. The music department is temporarily camping out in classroom 1301 while their space is renovated. The work on the exterior of the building is coming along. We are very close to getting partial occupancy of the fourth and final level of the addition. We are replacing our old 70's style red tile.

And we are getting all of our comfy Atrium furniture reupholstered. Check out before and after pictures!

Slowly But Surely...

We've been officially under construction for two full years now, but we can see the light at the end of the tunnel! We have occupancy of everything except the fourth floor and the old section of the library being renovated. We are very much enjoying our new spaces, and dreaming of the day when drills no longer ring in the hallways.



The fourth floor is on track to being completed by the end of the month, with the renovations in the library and music department offices scheduled to be done by the beginning of June. Our Grand Opening is scheduled for June 22 and we hope you'll join us to see everything in person!