The Schnepf Family of Queen Creek held a grand opening and ribbon cutting on Tuesday for the first mausoleum located in the Southeast Valley.

The mausoleum is at San Tan Memorial Gardens, 22425 E. Cloud Road.

In 2013, Mark and Carrie Schnepf donated a portion of their farm and opened San Tan Memorial Gardens. Today, it serves as the only cemetery for families of all faiths in the Queen Creek, San Tan Valley and south Gilbert areas, according to a press release.

The public, local church leaders and members of area funeral homes around the Valley attended the event to mark the latest addition to San Tan Memorial Gardens. The mausoleum is the first, free-standing, indoor mausoleum of its kind in the southeast Valley, the release stated.

The 2,716-square-foot building was built for the placement or "entombment" of cremated or casketed remains. Families in need of placing an urn or a casket in a final resting place can now do so in a crypt or a niche within the mausoleum, the release stated. Prior to the construction of the mausoleum, families could only choose in-ground burial for their loved one's urn or casket.

There are 85 crypts for caskets and more than 1,200 niches for urns available in the first phase of the mausoleum. In years to come, the mausoleum will expand its north and south corridors to offer more crypts and niches, according to the release.