Detroit — Whether they moved from the old Chancery, the Gabriel Richard Building or Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Central Services staff — those who comprise the 183 Archdiocese of Detroit employees — agree their new home at 12 State St. represents something different.

“The move is symbolic of a new beginning,” said Anita Houghton, regional coordinator for catechetical programming and formation in the Evangelization, Catechesis and Schools department.

Houghton, who moved with her coworkers into 12 State St. on Feb. 13, said some changes will take time getting used to, but others are quite “exciting.”

She said the transition and new location help reflect the changes in downtown Detroit.

“We are in the heart of what’s going on downtown,” said Houghton, adding she already sees opportunities for collaboration with coworkers she rarely saw prior.

Stephen Foster, IT operations director for Central Services, said he was working in the 12 State location many months earlier, even before the structure was gutted and renovated to provide an entirely new home for the archdiocese.

“For me it was thrilling, exciting, to see the looks on peoples’ faces” when they got to see the finished project, said Foster, who with fellow IT staff had spent entire days setting up the new building for the incoming technology.

Foster said he misses his outdoor walks between the old Chancery and the Gabriel Richard Building — which were only a few blocks apart — “but not when it’s seven below,” he added, referencing the frigid temperatures.

Patty Chase, regional coordinator of sacramental preparations with Evangelization, Catechesis and Schools, credited the IT department for the smooth transition: “They communicated regularly with us, made it so much easier.”

Most departments now feature an open floor plan, divided by individual workstations. Chase said everyone expected the change, “but there’s an openness to the newness.”

Staff is now encouraged to eat lunch in the ground-floor café, rather than at desks, which Chase said has given her opportunities to converse with coworkers.

Erik Coules, regional coordinator for pastoral planning and leadership services in the Parish Life and Services department, admitted the transition from personal offices to open workstations and condensing multiple buildings into roughly 44,000 square feet wasn’t easy.

However, “new life has begun in our new offices and a new joy has sprung and it is infectious,” he said. “New relationships are being formed, new protocols and new procedures are being implemented and the joy of these ‘new’ archdiocesan offices seems to also be setting us up for a new Central Services.”

Coules said while his personal work area has shrunk, “my heart has grown as I encounter more community-building in the past eight months (of transition and the move) than I have in the past eight years.”

Sr. Kathleen Matz, CDP, coordinator of catechetical programming and formation, called it “a friendly ambience” in the new setting.

She said she was grateful for the “behind the scenes” collaboration of human resources, including Erin Taft and director Pam Beech, as well as adjunct to the moderator Krista Bajoka to make the new workplace more comfortable.

Edmundo Reyes, director of institutional advancement with the Development and Stewardship department, was working at Sacred Heart Major Seminary prior to the Feb. 13 move.

“For our department the move to the new Chancery building will help us collaborate more efficiently with the rest of AOD Central Services,” Reyes said.