Local News in Brief : San Juan Capistrano : Ground Breaking Held for Retreat Addition

Ground was broken Monday for a $1.6-million addition to the Rev. Robert Schuller’s Rancho Capistrano Retreat & Renewal Center.

The 93-acre site serves as the headquarters for a number of programs run by the Robert Schuller Ministries, including singles retreats, alcoholic and substance abuse groups and marriage and family counseling. The facility, located just north of San Juan Capistrano, has 13 rooms for overnight guests.

This final phase is scheduled for completion in October, 1988, and will include a small chapel, 62 rooms for overnight accommodations and three additional buildings that will house meeting rooms, a dining room and a lounge area.

Warren Duffy, administrative assistant to Schuller, said the additional overnight facilities will allow the organization to be “a little more welcoming” to groups that want to use Rancho Capistrano as a retreat. “It will make a really nice facility available to a much larger cross-section of the community,” he said.