Sojourner Family Peace Center about more than a building

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The Sojourner Family Peace Center proved that a construction project is sometimes about more than a building.

“It’s a unique building and unique design, but it’s all about the customer this time,” said Rob Myers, construction executive at Mortenson Construction’s Brookfield office.

Mortenson oversaw the construction of the 72,000-square-foot criminal justice center.

“I don’t want to say it was an easy project because it wasn’t,” Myers said. “There were a lot of different agencies to coordinate, and all those were incorporated into one building.”

But, he said: “This has such a long-reaching impact on the community. This is going to help bring relief to families who are struggling. You know it’s more than just a building. It’s going to change people’s lives. And it’s the first of its type in the country, in terms of combining all these services under one roof. And they’re going to try to replicate this across the country.”

The work lasted only about a year.

“But it took years of grassroots support-building to get this project done,” said Kurt Zimmerman, lead architect on the project and principal at Zimmerman Architectural Studios in Milwaukee. “Just getting the backers, the initial group of supporters is pretty key to this project. Their faith is why this moved forward.”

That’s also why it became such an innovative opportunity for the nearly 9,000 people Sojourner sees each year after they’ve experienced some form of domestic violence in or near Milwaukee.

The $16 million center opened space for the Milwaukee Police Department’s Sensitive Crimes unit, the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office and Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin.

The center also has nearly 60 beds for families needing shelter, as well as on-site psychiatric services and rooms for medical exams. All this is part of an attempt to make investigations more efficient and ensure that victims can make use of services meant to help them.

Even the space set aside for visitors as they fill out the paperwork needed to get a restraining order — something that once took up nearly the entire sixth floor of the Milwaukee County Courthouse — can now be found at the center.

“This building is a tool to facilitate the work, getting the police involved and the social workers, the religious social-service groups, and giving them space in the building,” Zimmerman said. “It’s kind of a miracle that this is going on.”

Myers agreed.

“Not every project has that far of a reach and that kind of an impact. It just really opened my eyes to what an issue this is in the community.”

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