Amarillo council approves 10-year lease to help fund new day center and sublease to Transformation Park

The Amarillo City Council on May 27 approved a 10-year lease agreement that will fund construction of a new day center and allow the city to sublease space to Transformation Park (TRC), a nonprofit operating a night shelter and cabin community. Council members voted to adopt the resolution after an extended public discussion in which city staff, nonprofit leaders and residents described how the day center and nearby night shelter are intended to function together as part of the city's plan to address unsheltered homelessness.

Council members said the city's portion of the project would pay roughly $4 million over the 10-year lease toward construction of an estimated $10 million facility being built by Guy and Saunders Resource Center (GSRC). City staff said the new building will house community development offices (about 7,800 square feet) on the same campus as day-center services provided by GSRC and program space operated by Transformation Park under a sublease. Payments to the building owner are set to begin only after the new facility receives a certificate of occupancy, staff said.

Supporters described…