Saint Luke's Foundation will hand the reins over to the community this Wednesday, Nov. 19 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., when residents from the Buckeye-Shaker, Woodhill, and Mt. Pleasant neighborhoods gather at Morning Star Baptist Church to help select the architectural team for the foundation's new headquarters.

THe 'Design and Dine' event will allow residents to evaluate the four finalists in the Saint Luke's HQ design.The Design and Dine event is the culmination of a competitive process for the new headquarters that brought in applications from 20 design teams from across the country vying for the project.

"We had 20 firms, design teams apply, and they were from all over the country," said Tim Tramble, president and CEO of Saint Luke's Foundation. A committee of three Saint Luke’s staff members, three board members, and six external stakeholders narrowed the field to the four finalists.

In August, Saint Luke’s Foundation hosted a community barbeque on the site of the new headquarters—a vacant lot in the Woodland neighborhood, “where we engaged with residents to help identify their priorities for the new HQ,” says Saint Luke’s Foundation communications and marketing officer Devonta Dickey.

The four finalists will make their cases in video presentations on Wednesday, after a reception from 5 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

The heart of the event lies in what Tramble calls “the design experience” from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.

"Residents will be able to move throughout the design gallery,” Tramble explains, when members can visit each team's booth, ask questions, review design boards, and hear detailed information about each proposal.

“This will be an opportunity to hear from those four [finalists] about their visions for how they'll engage the community, their interest in initial conceptual design thoughts, and their thinking around design and the considerations that they'll have around the design," Tramble says, adding that attendees will be able to vote for their favorite candidates.

St. Luke's Foundation will build its new headquarters and community hub on this vacant lot in the Woodland neighborhood..Tramble says the resident vote ensures that neighborhood voices directly influence which design team will create the new community anchor.

After dealing with the business at hand, the “Design” portion of the event is followed by the “Dine” portion with a community dinner from 7 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. The dinner is followed by a raffle with prizes for attendees—prizes that Tramble says he hopes the residents find helpful as the holidays approach.

“We are mindful that it's the holidays and that it's tight right now for a lot of people,” he says. “So gift cards might be something—possibly gift cards to Dave's Market—[because] we like to support the local grocery store."

Tramble says more than 100 residents have already reserved a space at Design and Dine. Registration remains open for residents of the neighborhoods within the Saint Luke’s Foundation footprint (Buckeye-Shaker, Woodhill, and Mt. Pleasant).

"At the end of the day, people from the community are welcome—we just want to get a sense of how many people are coming,” he says. “So we're asking them to RSVP."

Tramble says the new headquarters and involving community members in the design team selection process reflects the Saint Luke's commitment to ensuring that everyone has the chance to provide meaningful input into a building that will serve as a neighborhood hub.

"I think it's going to be a very fun event,” he says. “We're looking forward to it."

Design and Dine on Wednesday, Nov. 19 is from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Morning Star Baptist Church, 10250 Shaker Blvd., Cleveland 44104. Registration is open to members of the Buckeye-Shaker, Woodhill, and Mt. Pleasant neighborhoods.