SPRINGFIELD, Ky. (WDRB) -- An old college campus that sat desolate for years is now bustling with people again.
Addiction Recovery Care (ARC) just opened the Crown Recovery Center on the former St. Catharine College campus. ARC purchased the property earlier this year, four years after the college closed.
The Crown Recover Center is already treating about 110 addicts at the facility.
"If you're looking to get your life back, this is absolutely the place to be at," one resident said.
The open environment allows the men to roam around the campus freely and provides resources that most recovery center's can't. There are meeting spaces, a cafeteria, recreational facilities and enough dormitory space to take in 750 residents.
"Everything is going to work out for you in an atmosphere like this," another resident said. "There's a lot of hope, a lot of healing, a lot of healthy things that can come out of this situation."
While providing care and resources to lead these men to recovery, it's also providing 260 jobs in the city of Springfield. Local officials and leadership at the ARC call it a big gain for the local economy, especially after losing so many jobs when the college closed in 2016.
"We're bringing 260 jobs to this community, and we want to give back," Crown Recovery Center Community CEO John Wilson said. "We're trying to be a good neighbor, a good community partner."
Along with the jobs at the facility, ARC's program also aims to make the patients career-ready when they graduate the program. ARC's mission is to go from crisis to career. The work being done during recovery for the hundreds of men who will be treated at the Crown Recovery Center could lead to them all being ready for the workforce.
"Beyond creating jobs, there are more people paying taxes," said Pat Fogarty, senior vice president of operations at Crown Recovery Center Community. "We become a healthier community, so it has an economic impact along with that humanistic quality."
It's two fold at the Crown Recover Center. It's a second chance for this college campus that abruptly closed, and a second chance for the men who now inhabit it.
"A lot of hope here, a lot of excitement and a lot of lives being changed here," Wilson said.
ARC said the campus will be fully operating by May 2021.
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