Construction to start on Pontiac’s Holland Center

Hammers and shovels are about to start swinging at the old Wallace E. Holland Center, which is about to become the new base of operations in Pontiac for the Salvation Army Eastern Michigan Division.The non-profit will rehab and expand the existing space as part of a $3 million project. The current Salvation Army building on 34 Oakland Ave. will be put up for sale.The building on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. was originally constructed in the mid-1980s. It has been vacant for the last five years, a casualty of budget cuts at the city of Pontiac, which is now in receivership. The city and the Salvation Army have been working on the deal for the last few years.The Salvation Army plans to raze 3,300 of the building’s original 17,984 square feet. After that it plans another 10,248-square-foot addition to house its Oakland County services.Source: Salvation Army Eastern Michigan DivisionWriter: Jon Zemke