Building a Vision, Brick by Brick

For the past 10 years, Chabad of the East Valley has operated from a Chandler storefront. To accommodate its growing programs, it holds religious school at the East Valley JCC, summer camp at Temple Beth Sholom of the East Valley and holiday programming at various facilities around town.

But soon all programs will be based in one place: the Pollack Chabad Center for Jewish Life, scheduled to open early next month, according to Rabbi Mendy Deitsch, who runs the center.

Plans for the facility — named after the project’s lead contributor, real estate developer Michael Pollack — began about a dozen years ago when the East Valley Chabad purchased 2 1/2 acres of land at McClintock and Ray roads in Chandler. A groundbreaking ceremony was held in 2005 but building was put on hold after the economic downturn. Construction for the building, at 875 S. McClintock Road, began in September 2012.

The 15,900-square-foot facility includes a sanctuary that seats up to 450 people (and can be used as a social hall for functions), offices, five classrooms, a kitchen and a gift shop. A second phase includes plans for a mikvah on the site, Deitsch said.

During a visit to the site on April 15, several projects were under way: a painter was trying different shades of paints on the ceiling and landscapers were working on the garden and in other areas. “Every day it changes,” Deitsch said. “It’s unbelievable.”

A stone from the groundbreaking ceremony is built into the wall close to the front entrance, along with a piece of material from the renovation of “770” — which refers to the address of Chabad-Lubavitch World Headquarters in the Brooklyn, N.Y., neighborhood of Crown Heights — nearly 20 years ago. Deitsch, who funded Chabad of the East Valley in 1997, said he kept it all these years with the dreams for the center in mind.

“You’ve got to have a vision,” he said.

The center recently started a Building Brick Campaign, to raise funds for the last 1,200 bricks in the walkway leading to the entrance. The bricks can be engraved with the names of loved ones. Click here for details.