CEO Perspective

Creating a Stronger Future for CHEER and for the Seniors We Serve

If you have driven past the CHEER Community Center on Sand Hill Road in Georgetown recently, you may have noticed something exciting: Gateway East Project is beginning to look like the vision we have talked about for so long.

Construction on both the new Administrative & the Support Services Building and Gateway East Apartments I began in June and the progress over the past several months has been remarkable.

The Administrative Building is taking shape quickly, with framing and roofing work well underway. This new facility will eventually bring many of CHEER’s administrative and support functions together in one location, providing a more efficient and supportive environment for the staff who work every day to serve our community. USDA is overseeing the project, ensuring construction milestones are completed. The project has a 365-day schedule for substantial completion.

Just next door, Gateway East Apartments I is also progressing rapidly. This 59-unit affordable senior housing community is the second of what we envision as a much larger Gateway East development. The building’s second-floor walls and third-floor framing are already giving us a much better sense of what these homes will look like. By the time you read this in November, even more of the third floor should be visible. DSHA is overseeing the Apartments I project and has a 425-day schedule for substantial completion.

While these are two separate construction projects, they are really part of one larger vision: Gateway East will allow us to expand affordable housing opportunities while also strengthening the facilities and infrastructure that support CHEER’s growing programs and services. Because the development is adjacent to our existing CHEER Apartments and Community Center, it creates opportunities for seniors to live, participate, connect, and receive services within a familiar community.

For me, watching Gateway East become reality is especially meaningful. What began as a vision many years ago is now rising from the ground, one wall and one floor at a time.

There is still a lot of work ahead, but every day brings us closer to something that will serve Sussex County seniors for generations.

We aren’t simply building buildings. We are building for the future.