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| David Harter |
Construction has started on Fort West,
a new independent learning center, located on the corner of Albany Street and
West Avenue.
The project, an offshoot of
education non-profit, Practical Play, will house programs that focus on learning
life skills.
“(It would have) the fundamental learning
experiences of humanity, food, music, culture, building stuff, mechanics,” said
David Harter, 29, program facilitator at Practical Play and building owner. “The
things people like to learn about, that's the infrastructure that I'd like to
see here.”
Harter bought three abandoned houses at the site two years ago. He plans to use two of the buildings for
Fort West, while the third will become an apartment complex. Since then, he’s
spent a year and a half on what he calls emergency stabilization, including
replacing rotted out structures and outdated electrical wiring and repairing
holes in the floor.
"You have to tear stuff down
before you can start to rebuild,” he said. “It's like a garden, you can't make
a garden without tilling the soil."
Now, he and volunteers from
Practical Play and around the community are focusing on construction to
transform the building into Fort West.
Funds for the approximately
$280,000 project come from Harter’s personal savings and from donations. Most
of the work being done by volunteers, though Harter hires outside contractors
when building codes require it.
He said he hopes to have Fort West
completed in three years, though he expects the apartments to be ready in the
spring. By Autumn Evans and Melissa Zimmermann
