DE PERE, WI (WTAQ) – In the last couple of weeks, Jim and Miriam Mulva revealed plans to fund construction of a $50 million cultural center on the corner of Broadway and Lewis streets.
Apparently, they’re not done yet.
Included in the plans to build the cultural center in De Pere are neighboring St. Francis Xavier and Notre Dame elementary school.
To the tune of $27 million, the Mulva’s will also bankroll a new Notre Dame elementary school and St. Francis Xavier parish hall.
“We truly believe that what God’s gifts to us are to be shared and so there’s no better way to share them than with the hometown, the city of De Pere and the church we love,” Miriam Mulva said in a news conference on Tuesday. “It’s very important for us to give back to the community where we grew up,” adds Jim Mulva.
In fact, the project is especially personal for the couple as they both grew-up in De Pere, attended Catholic school, and still are active in the St. Francis Xavier parish.
For Jim Mulva, he’s very aware of the challenges that Catholic school’s face to remain competitive in terms of facilities.
“It’s important for Catholic education to be competitive,” he explains. “So, we feel that we have to have competitive facilities.”
The plan is for the current Notre Dame middle school and St. Francis Xavier parish hall to be demolished next summer.
The new three-story, 87,000 square-foot Notre Dame school will be built at the current site of the Notre Dame Elementary School on S. Huron St. and George St.
That location is the site of the former St. Mary’s Church in downtown De Pere, which also is an important landmark in the history of Jim and Mariam Mulva.
“We got married there,” explains Mariam Mulva. “Fifty years ago next month, but we were just kids then, you know.”
The transition should be seamless for the early childhood to eighth-grade students, as the new school should be ready in the fall of 2020.
The church will remain intact with the new parish hall connected to the church, which is across the street from the cultural center site.
The cultural center is set to be complete by 2022.
And with all the philanthropic endeavors recently by the couple, it begs the question… Is there anymore to come?
Well, Jim Mulva didn’t exactly turn down that notion.
“Well, we keep thinking, that’s part of the challenge, in what we want to do,” he explains. “So, we have ideas, but in terms of scope and size, these two are pretty large projects.”
