AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF)–After breaking ground in the spring, construction of the HUB for Community Innovation was put on hold due to the pandemic. Now its back on track.

“We are on a very aggressive timeline. Hopefully we will open in April of 2022,” CEO of Boys & Girls Club of Greater Augusta, Kim Evans said.

The property was formerly a Kroger shopping center, and was later donated to the MCG Foundation. The plot of land is located in the Harrisburg and Laney Walker Communities.

“They [MCG Foundation] really wanted to make sure if they were to develop that property, that they considered the residents that lived in that community, and not turn their backs on those residents,” Evans said.

The MCG Foundation connected with the Community Foundation and Boys & Girls Club to make a plan. Together they came up with the HUB… Hear, Understand, Belong.

“We put our heads together in a grassroots effort trying to figure out what was possible in terms of providing support and resources to the community,” Evans said.

The Hub will be a campus for innovation. HUB West will house four community partners: Augusta Locally Grown, Rise Augusta, Augusta University Literacy Center, and Harrisburg Healthcare.

Hub East will house Boys & Girls Club of Greater Augusta headquarters.

“The big idea here is that we will work together and be very collaborative in nature in order to get the most out of the resources,” Evans said.

These organizations have already been working in the Harrisburg and Laney Walker communities for some time now.

“Our hope is that the services that we’re providing the community are services that we feel are necessary in order to really help lift the residents who live there. We also want to make sure that we are flexible enough and nimble enough to change with the community,” Evans said.