Ypsilanti’s Hope Clinic quietly restarted construction of its major expansion on Harriet Street this fall, representing completion of its $3.6 million capital campaign.

The effort concludes a three-year fund-raising effort, and positions the nonprofit for growing its volunteer base and client services.

“This means that at long last we can move forward with our vision for one Hope Clinic,” said Cathy Robinson, executive director. “We can bring all of Ypsilanti’s Hope-based services to one site.”

The building effort started in 2007 with an anonymous matching gift of $500,000, but as staff and the volunteer board were ready to move forward with a public appeal in fall 2008, the economy forced a slowdown.

“The timing couldn’t have been worse for us,” Robinson said.

A gift from the Kresge Foundation in 2009 kept the project alive, as Hope moved forward with construction the building shell that year.

“We thought that would help energize us and let us see the progress,” Robinson said.

Then a push this year to conclude the effort proved fruitful. As donations of about $700,000 arrived by June, “that brought us home,” Robinson said, allowing the re-launch of construction in November.

The donations included about $300,000 in labor and materials, including $50,000 from Masco Cabinetry Inc., which just moved its corporate headquarters from Adrian to Ann Arbor Township.

Hope Clinic operates on a $1.2 million annual budget and employs the equivalent of about 16 full-time staff members, Robinson said.

Volunteers also are a big part of the agency’s ability to provide services, she added. About 90 volunteer clinicians staff the medical facility.

This year, Hope is providing emergency food to 60 families per week, and lets 150 families per month partake in the “Care and Share” program that provides household supplies.

But its primary function is safety-net health care provider, Robinson said. The agency will treat about 4,500 dental patients this year, and the medical facility “has been operating at capacity for a long time,” she said.

“We’re turning away people regularly. It breaks our hearts to do that.”

The new building will move all of Hope’s services into a single location, consolidating medical, dental and meal service locations. To do that, it’s adding 20,000 square feet to its administration building, and then building kitchen and dining space in part of the building.

The construction work will continue this winter, with Oliver Hatcher as the general contractor. So far crews have done a lot of the electrical work, placed the insulation, and completed some drywalling and a lot of the plumbing.

As Hope’s staff and clients look toward the April completion and midyear move, plans are taking shape for gradually expanding services, Robinson said.

That includes developing new partnerships - possibly with the University of Detroit coming on board next - along with recruiting new volunteers.

Just adding three new exam rooms means the center can accommodate up to 70 new volunteer clinicians, Robinson added.

“We’ll have the capacity to address more of the unmet need for our medical and dental services,” she said. “Before, space was a limiting factor.

“Now it’s wonderful that we’ll have the space to expand as resources are available to do so.”

Paula Gardner is Business News Director of AnnArbor.com. Contact her at 734-623-2586 or by email. Sign up for the weekly Business Review newsletter, distributed every Thursday, here.