A six-building expansion of the Helping Hand Home for Children in Hyde Park was approved on consent by Austin’s Planning Commission on Nov. 13; the plans now head to City Council for a final decision. Planned for a roughly acre-sized lot on the northeast corner of West 38th Street and Avenue B in the north central Hyde Park neighborhood, the development proposes four two-story dormitories with a total of 40 beds, a 5,190-square-foot school, a 1,500-square-foot common room building and a 927-square-foot storage area. The Helping Hand Home for Children has a small campus on the adjacent corner lot on West 38th and Avenue B. The organization provides a shelter and healing center for children recovering from abuse, abandonment or neglect. The proposed development would replace a 25-bed dormitory currently located on the lot. According to Richard Suttle, a Helping Hand representative, the organization will seek to add more beds to the proposal when City Council takes up the item in the coming weeks.