BLOOMINGTON - Six years after The Salvation Army announced plans to build a new Safe Harbor homeless shelter, officials turned over the first ceremonial shovels of dirt at the site Tuesday.

"This is a long-awaited day," said Capt. Scott Shelbourn, commanding officer of The Salvation Army of McLean County. "It did seem like it took forever to get here, but it's a special day for The Salvation Army and the clients we serve."

Construction on the $2.5 million shelter at the corner of Oak and Jefferson streets is expected to begin next month and be completed by fall.

The 24-hour shelter will house about 60 men and 25 women and is expected to incorporate services currently provided at Compassion Center, a day center for homeless people that opened in 2004 at the Second Presbyterian Church. Those services include general equivalency diploma preparation, life skills, mental health and employment counseling.

"We're so happy to have this project (the new Safe Harbor) started," said Karen Zangerle, executive director of PATH, the agency that oversees Compassion Center. "When we started to talk about Compassion Center (in 2002), our primary goal was to get 45 to 50 people off the street during the day.

"With Safe Harbor moving to 24 hours, we'll be taking a look to see if we can meld the two into one."

Zangerle said the most important thing is that no services are lost.

Thomas Fulop, director of Safe Harbor, said the new facility will have offices for caseworkers and other day services as well as all Salvation Army programs.

The Rev. Chip Hardwick, pastor of Second Presbyterian Church, said he hopes the space occupied by Compassion Center in the basement of the church's downtown campus will continue to serve the urban poor in some way.

The new Safe Harbor will fill several needs, including serving women, that are unmet in the current, aging building at 212 Roosevelt Ave. Women are not allowed in the Roosevelt site because it contains lead-based paint that is harmful to children.

Women will be housed in the east side of the new building and men will have beds in the west side.

In between will be a commercial kitchen with a dishwasher, allowing Safe Harbor to use washable plates and eliminate the need for many costly paper products.

Fulop said the kitchen could serve three meals a day but the agency will coordinate with other agencies in the Twin Cities to be sure services aren't duplicated.

Safe Harbor will continue to be helping homeless people become self-sufficient.

"Safe Harbor has moved away from the flophouse mentality," Fulop said. "We'll take almost anyone in but once they're in, we expect them to follow certain steps to improve."

Meanwhile, Shelbourn said a Twin City business may buy the current Safe Harbor.