Plans to turn a former East End shopping center into a new Boys and Girls Club focused on teenagers are gaining steam.

The Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Richmond is expected next week to provide more details of its plan to redevelop the now vacant Eastlawn Shopping Center into a new teen-centric addition to its offerings.

The nonprofit is projected to invest several million dollars to create the new club on the 2-acre property at 1815 N. 30th St. The specifics are expected to be announced during a news conference Monday, Jan. 27.

BGCMR completed the purchase of the property in December from the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority, which bought the shopping center 15 months earlier as part of its efforts to revitalize the area.

RRHA paid $1 million for the property in August 2017, according to city records, and sold it to BGCMR on Dec. 14 for $1.025 million, a bit extra to cover legal costs.

The arrival of the youth club won city and RRHA support as a complement to the new apartments and homes being built nearby in the Armstrong Renaissance development that is going up on the site of the former Armstrong High School and to bolster RRHA’s efforts to transform the Creighton Court public housing complex into a mixed-income community.

Although the property address is listed on North 30th, the shopping center that dates to the 1960s faces Creighton Road, the main entry into Creighton Court.