On Thursday, volunteers, donors and board members assembled in the parking lot outside the Shipman Youth Center to watch the new Thrive and Thrift building come together, piece by piece.

“It’s like four big Legos,” Thrive and Thrift board Chair Jim Koenig said as he watched workers tie rigging around an entire quarter of a building, preparing to lift a second piece onto the waiting foundation.

The new facility will combine the operations of the Lake Placid Ecumenical Food Pantry and the Helping Hands Thrift Shop, which closed in late 2023. The project is on track to be completed in October, said Dave Boniello, president of Simplex Homes, a modular building company based in Pennsylvania.

With both the food pantry and thrift shop in one location, volunteers and board members look forward to being able to serve the community in new ways. With extra storage space in the basement, they will be able to store more donations, even furniture.

“We’re moving a little bit past the ‘get-by’ stage,” Koenig said.

This building project came together with robust community support. As of mid-July, organizers had raised around $700,000 from the community, in addition to a $250,000 commitment from New York state Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie.

Modular builds are faster and less labor-intensive than a traditional construction project because many parts of the project can happen simultaneously, said Dave Boniello, president of Simplex Homes. The sections of the building, called modules, are produced in a factory in about three weeks. At the same time, the foundation can be built. The modules arrive pre-plumbed and pre-wired.

“This project has gone really, really quick, especially for a public project,” Boniello said. “There’s always obstacles, but this thing got off the counter really fast.”

The building was ordered in February and was delivered at the end of June, said Steve Sama, president of Homestead Development Corporation, which collaborated with Simplex Homes to design and fabricate the building.

Onlookers watched a crane position the module over a row of support beams on Thursday. Carol Nevulis, a Thrive and Thrift donor, St. Eustace congregant and resident, is especially excited about the return of the thrift store. She says that families and seasonal workers need places to find affordable furniture and winter clothes.

“I think I’m representing the enthusiasm of the community and how this whole project came together so fast,” Nevulis said.

Helping Hands Thrift Shop closed its doors Nov. 25, 2023 after the shop, seeking to move out of its aging building, failed to find a suitable space to relocate to. Although Thrive and Thrift does not yet have a set opening date, Koenig said they plan to start taking donations for the thrift shop in mid-September.