TOPSFIELD – An inscription on a pillow in a newly renovated living room seems to sum up the new Nike Village: “Home is where the heart is.”
Residents of the village have together endured addiction, mental illness, AIDS and the threat of homelessness. Over the past seven years, the residents also endured a renovation effort of the 1950s-vintage Nike missile base that was only supposed to take one year. That work officially concludes today, when some of the officials who helped revitalize the old Army officers’ quarters will celebrate the completion of the $4.2 million project.
“Part of mental illness is a constant state of anxiety,” said Paul O’Shea, president of Health & Education Services Inc., which runs Nike Village. “This has a calming effect that can benefit treatment.”
In one resident’s home, a fish tank is matched with a cross on the wall and a small tree with lights competing with new windows. Beige paint covers the walls, a new heating system blows air quietly, and a washing machine and dryer are just steps away. That’s all changed from the 1950s-vintage radiators and white paint that have hosted patients for about 20 years.
Altogether, 16 renovated houses offer rooms for up to 34 clients in three programs. Serenity hosts HIV and AIDS patients with substance abuse problems and is funded by the state Department of Public Health. The state Department of Mental Health funds the Timshel and Plowshare programs for people with chronic mental illness and substance abuse problems.
Health & Education Services worked with several businesses and organizations to finance the project, said Mary Mulligan, a vice president and chief financial officer.
“The partners in this with us were the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston, TD BankNorth, the Department of Housing and Community Development, and the Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation,” she said.
O’Shea said the improved homes are far better.
“They were livable, but they were 1950s decor, 1950s living area, 1950s heating systems,” he said.
Most residents stay about two years as they transition back into the community and a more productive life. The Nike Village complex includes communal meals, social clubs and work environment clubs, O’Shea said.
“All of the people who are here would otherwise be homeless if it wasn’t for the programs,” O’Shea said.
Years in the making
Planning for the renovations started when new regulations made the area’s vintage septic system inadequate. A consultant told the health system that, if it was going to seek government money for a sewer tie-in, it might as well seek money for renovations. Years of government review followed, with some agencies’ desires clashing with others’. Even the U.S. Army, the former owner of the property, had a say. O’Shea said every agency was helping lead to a good renovation, but one year of construction took six years of planning, financing and permitting. Even the basic cost of blacktop quadrupled during planning. The project was initially supposed to cost $2 million.
“If this project was a person, it would be that guy in ‘Li’l Abner’ with the cloud over his head,” O’Shea quipped.
This morning, the project will be unveiled for an invitation-only event with some of the state and Health & Education Services officials who helped rebuild Nike Village. The residents’ privacy is closely protected.
Tim Clifford, who was hired this month to begin an 18-month fund-raising campaign, said Health & Education Services Inc. hopes to gather $1.5 million for paint and other basic improvements for the nonprofit’s 34 facilities in Essex County and the Merrimack Valley.
O’Shea said it would be the organization’s first capital fundraising campaign, which could strike a chord in many people with friends or relatives who have had addictions or mental illnesses.
“It never ceases to amaze me, the breadth of this problem,” he said. “Virtually anybody you talk to has been affected.”
Nike Village at a glance
Nike Village is a private complex on a former Nike missile base, off Route 1 near the Topsfield-Danvers line. Some 16 houses for people with HIV, AIDS, addictions or mental illness were renovated over the last year in a project that began seven years ago. The houses were part of the missile base, which opened around 1956 to protect Boston from Russian bombers.
The Serenity Supportive Housing; Timshel, a Hebrew word meaning “Thou Can”; and Ploughshare programs are run by Health & Education Services Inc., which is affiliated with Beverly Hospital. The programs have room for 34 patients, who live there with around the clock help.