Salvation Army Builds $80-Million Center in San Francisco

Using $54-million donated by the late Joan Kroc, wife of the founder of the McDonald’s fast-food chain, the Salvation Army will next week begin building a new $80-million community center and low-cost housing complex in the Tenderloin section of San Francisco, The San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Ms. Kroc bequeathed a total of $1.5-billion to the national charity to endow and build up to 50 educational and recreational centers around the country. Half of the $54-million is being used to build the new community center, and the rest will set up an endowment for services provided to residents of the complex.

The charity plans to use a separate pool of $26-million from various sources to build the housing complex. Most of the money will come from California’s Department of Housing and Community Development, and $8.6-million will come from donations the charity is in the process of raising.