L.A. Braille Institute Building Center for Blind in Desert City

Construction is under way by Los Angeles-based Braille Institute on a $5-million, 32,000-square-foot service center for the blind and visually impaired in Rancho Mirage. Completion is scheduled for May.

The center is being built on 2.64 acres of undeveloped land along Ramon Road, east of Da Vall Drive. The Landmark Co., Rancho Mirage, donated two acres. The center will replace, and be six times larger, than Braille’s facility in Palm Springs, a converted fire station.

S. Kassovic, Architects and Planners, of Rancho Mirage, is designer, and John Wessman Construction Co. Inc., of Cathedral City, contractor.

A training apartment will be included in the center where blind persons can learn skills necessary for independent living, such as cooking, clothing arrangement and money identification.