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Har Zion plans expansion at new facility
RANDI BAROCAS
Staff Writer
Just one year after moving into its new home at 6140 E. Thunderbird Road, Har Zion Congregation is looking to expand.
This time, instead of relocating, the Conservative synagogue plans to build an 8,000-square-foot addition to accommodate its growth and better serve its 430 member families. That number represents an increase of 100 families compared to this time last year, noted Rabbi Mark Bisman.
The cost for the expansion is estimated at $500,000, according to minutes from the congregation's May 17 annual meeting.
"We were considering at the time that we purchased (the Thunderbird facility), to purchase some houses to the east that had also been owned by the church (that owned the facility before Har Zion). Over time, when we reviewed whether that was the best use of resources, it was concluded that it wasn't," Bisman said this week, adding that the congregation's board of directors opted instead to build an addition that could serve a wider variety of needs.
Those needs include a new kitchen that will provide congregants with both kosher dairy and kosher meat options when planning special events on the premises, said Har Zion Congregation President Jennie Kronenfeld.
"Right now we have been functioning with only a dairy kitchen. ... Before we moved, we were having monthly Shabbat dinners. Since we moved, it hasn't been as popular because we have only dairy dinners," Kronenfeld said. "This (addition) will improve our ability for people to have special events because there will be a complete kitchen and people can serve complete meals."
The old kitchen most likely will be turned into a gift shop sponsored by the Har Zion Sisterhood, Bisman said.
In addition to the new kitchen, the expansion will include six classrooms, a youth lounge and a senior lounge, Bisman said.
The classrooms are a top priority because of the congregation's preschool program, which was launched last fall when the synagogue moved. About 50 children are enrolled in the program, Bisman said.
Growth in the religious school - which has swelled to an enrollment of about 125 children - also is spurring the need for additional classrooms, he said.
The addition also will include a youth lounge to provide children enrolled in the congregation's United Synagogue Youth program with a place to meet and hold activities. Bisman said the youth have been holding meetings in a classroom that doesn't have enough space to adequately accommodate them.
There are plans for a senior lounge as well, which will provide the necessary space for the congregation to create an activity program for its senior members, said Kronenfeld.
Plans for the two-story addition must be approved by the City of Phoenix before ground can be broken, Bisman said, adding that "at the moment, everything hinges on permits."
"We have to figure out how to meet the needs of the city and our needs as well. We hope that before the summer is out that we can break ground. But we are not close enough to set a date," Bisman said. "We are in the bank stage, the architectural stage ... all of the stages except for the breaking-ground stage. But we will be there shortly."
Completion of the project isn't expected until late this year, he added, explaining that the religious school will have to "cope" with present conditions - for "no more than six months," he hopes.
As far as financing is concerned, the congregation is in the process of negotiating a construction loan that will enable it to borrow money as needed to pay its bills, Bisman said. The synagogue also is "actively soliciting our members to complete this project," he added.
The main structure itself should be paid off by Dec. 31, Bisman said.
"We are feeling generally confident that we are behaving in a fiscally responsible manor (by moving ahead with these expansion plans now)," he stressed.
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