Common Grace

Lord, in your mercy. Hear our prayers.

Pre-leasing has started for Grace Commons at Eastmorland Apartments!
This is a small apartment building on a shared campus with a new community center and wonderful, accessible neighborhood filled with resources. Share the news if you know someone who is looking for a home on the east side of Madison!

Buildings are completely enclosed now! We are working with a super construction team!
Thanks to Adam, with Threshold Builds, for these great photos!

Watch our new promotional video from Eastmorland neighbor and filmmaker, Joel
Sacramento. Thank you, Joel, for this great piece that highlights our construction progress and capital campaign!

Coming soon...the new ECC! Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

During Pride month, and always, Common Grace embraces the inclusive stances from all three of our participating denominational bodies! God’s love is love is love. 🌈🫶🏾✝️

A foundation can be something you pour in concrete—and something you build in your values. Sometimes, it’s both. Last week, as a steel beam was set into place, Adam Johnson, our site’s construction manager with Threshold Builds, shared this:



“This place is built on Love, so it is written in the concrete. Honestly, I don't know what's the bigger privilege, the team I get to work with, or the amazing clients whose vision we see to fruition. This is a special project for all of us, and for the community it will serve.”



Adam’s idea has stayed with us. Because what’s being built here isn’t just housing and a community center, it’s something rooted in care for our neighbors, a more just society, and a healthier environment.

That’s the kind of foundation that carries a project forward long after construction is done.

What’s your foundation?

An incredible Pentecost celebration this last Sunday at Common Grace! 36 new members welcomed into our faith community, including members of Lake Edge United Church of Christ who have worshipped with us for over a year.
God is making all things new! 🔥🕊️✝️

Here we are in our interim location at St. Stephen’s Lutheran. They have been a wonderful nesting place for Common Grace.
Photo credit: Scott MW

Celebrating & Welcoming new members this Sunday!
Remember to sign up for the potluck in the On Tap

Thank you to all who participated in the "Name the Apartments" Contest!

We had nearly 60 name suggestions from Eastmorland neighbors and friends of our project!!
The Common Grace Board loved reading and hearing the thoughtful intentions behind the name suggestions as they worked to make a very hard decision with a lot of tricky considerations involved. We even had to do some legal research into other housing entities with similar names for trademark purposes.

We especially liked the idea of calling the apartments "Commons". We felt that the word denoted the kind of shared space and community life that we intend for these homes in our neighborhood. "Common" is part of our missional statement, "Common Space for the Common Good".

The first name choice was to embrace the shape of the property -- which is notable in the neighborhood -- and go with Jeremy Nealis' suggestion of "Triangle Commons".
However, there is a large housing development that is currently being rebuilt between Regent Street, Park Street and W. Washington Avenue. It is called the "Triangle Community Ministry" or the "Triangle Housing". When doing internet searches including the words "triangle", "housing" and "Madison, WI", this housing development pops up with several links to sites. We felt the strong similarity would lead to constant confusion for the Eastmorland project.

We finally settled on "Grace Commons at Eastmorland" for the name of the apartments. It is a play on the congregational name, but more than that it offers the intention of "courteous goodwill" (which is another definition of "grace") in this place for "common" life in our neighborhood. Courteous goodwill is what we hope our site will continue to create in our neighborhood!

Because this suggestion of Grace Commons ultimately came from our team, we would like to honor the spirit of the contest and award the gift card to the strong runner-up.

Jeremy Nealis -- thank you for suggesting "Triangle Commons" -- please PM us with your contact information so that we might get you the $100 gift card for the local restaurant of your choice or to Woodman's Food Market!

With gratitude to all those who so thoughtfully participated in this contest!

The Common Grace Board