It took Elaine Cole 11 years of fighting to get it done, but last week, she helped break ground on a $3.2 million renovation and expansion of a Mystic home for residents with mental illness.

"It has literally been a journey of 11 years," Cole, executive director of Mystic River Residential Care, told about 70 people gathered for the event on Nov. 12. "So it helps not to know what you are getting into."

She bought the property at 14 Godfrey St. in 2003 for $560,000 with a loan from her then 86-year-old mother, who had the "guts" to lend her the money, she told the crowd.

Her goal was to renovate and expand the 25-bed facility so it could properly handle the number of people there. She also bought the lot next to the house for another $260,000.

Mystic River Residential Care started as a seven-bed nursing home when it was licensed by the Connecticut State Department of Public Health in 1956. In 1970, workers built an addition to the house and turned it into a house for 25 people able to live more independently.

The house now serves men and women with physical or mental disabilities, including those with mental illness. The median age of residents is 53. But the building has not changed and residents live in cramped quarters, a staff member said.

The house has only four bathrooms and the living room also serves as the recreation area and the meeting room.

"It's a little challenging sometimes to get showers and in the bathroom and laundry and stuff like that," said Scott Auden, 46, one of the residents. "It's like having 25 people staying in your house. I'm very much looking forward to the new facility."

Cole wanted to make the improvements, but no lender would accept her until she had three years of tax returns documenting the business, she said.

So she had to wait. In 2006, she bought a third parcel so she'd have a full acre and plenty of room on which to build. The next year, she went before the Zoning Board of Appeals and asked for permission to add five beds. She was denied.

Cole kept going anyway, reconfiguring architectural drawings and presenting her case again in 2009, asking for a reasonable accommodation in keeping with the Americans with Disabilities Act. And they agreed.

In 2010, she began looking for financing. It took her four years to get it.

Don Brodeur, an accountant who worked with Cole, said she had to contend with local and state regulatory agencies or boards, logistical problems and financial issues.

At one point, after Brodeur and Cole had worked for two years to secure a loan, it was later denied because of increased construction costs due to a delay in getting another approval.

"Needless to say, this was a very challenging period for Elaine and I that required all the determination and perseverance she could muster for the two of us," he said.

The project will be done in three phases, ultimately replacing the colonial house with a facility that's 4,000 square feet bigger.

The first phase of building is constructing a two-story facility, that will appear as one story from the street since the land slopes down. It will include a new kitchen, living room, recreation area and dining room along with bedrooms, said John Kwasniewski, general contractor on the project.

Construction is expected to start this week. The second phase of the project, about a year away, would renovate the addition next to the main house. Finally, workers would demolish the old house and create a courtyard and patio.

Construction is being financed by a $1.2 million loan from Chelsea Groton Bank; $1.2 million loan from Connecticut Innovations, which provides second mortgages and boosts credit; about $300,000 in loans and grants from the state Department of Economic and Community Development; and $200,000 from Cole herself.

"It's exciting," said Ross Crandall, 61, a resident of the house. Referring to Cole, he added, "She's wanted it for a long time. She's worked so hard for it."

d.straszheim@theday.com

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