Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation’s Kelly Cullen Community integrates home and health through adaptive reuse of the 1910 landmark Central YMCA, providing 172 supportive housing units for the formerly homeless with on-site social services, and a San Francisco Department of Public Health wellness clinic providing health services for homeless and Tenderloin residents. The $95 million public-private project honors the legacy of the YMCA facility with a new use sympathetic to its social goals and the mix of historic uses including hotel rooms, gym, auditorium, classrooms, and grand public spaces. The project reconfigured, upgraded, and restored the 139,200 square foot masonry building in 2012. This historic building will serve San Francisco Tenderloin residents, one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse clienteles in the country.
Kelly Cullen Community is named in honor of Brother Kelly Cullen, who passed away in November of 2010. A dynamic force of nature, Brother Kelly Cullen (1953-2010) was a Franciscan friar and a tireless advocate for the Tenderloin neighborhood and its lowest-income residents. Kelly Cullen Community exemplifies his spirit, by bringing beauty and showing respect for San Francisco’s poorest residents.