To redevelop the Public Square, build an underground parking garage, do related improvments on Harrison, Washington and other streets, and complete other projects, the cost will be $26,860,825.
If a proposed multigenerational center on the Major Hospital site on West Washington Street and brownstone townhomes across street from it are added in, the total is $38,660,825.
At the Shelbyville Common Council meeting on Monday morning, Mayor Tom DeBaun and the city’s consultant on the project, Ken Remenschneider, presented details and cost estimates of the proposal to the council and several other people.
Mayor Tom DeBaun told the gathering that a lot of thought and effort has gone into developing the plan.
“We’re been working on this for nearly a year,” he said, adding public input has been overwhelmingly positive.
Renovating the Public Square and the related projects are designed to attract young, educated Millennial workers to the city as well as the companies that want to employ them, and to make Shelbyville a more attractive place to live for the top executives of existing and prospective companies.
“It’s about attracting talent,” DeBaun said.
Among the other elements of the plan is a proposal to build a civic pavilion in the planned green space on the redesigned square, possibly with a 130-foot tower lighted on top that could be seen from Interstate 74 and attract visitors.
“We’re drawing our design scheme from the Art Deco period,” Remenschneider said.
The plan also calls for market-rate housing in both the Methodist Building and the Knights of Pythias building, a mix of rental units and condos, and possibly condos in the Sears / Bradley Hall building on the second floor.
“Market-rate is nonsubsidized,” Remenschneider said.
And the plan outlines possible commercial office space with housing on the second floor for the Tippecanoe / Wickizer Building adjoining the Strand Theatre on South Harrison Street.
Redeveloping the Methodist, Pythias and Tippecanoe buildings are the “Catalyst Projects” according to the plan.
“You get the most impactful things done first,” said DeBaun.
There is no firm timeline for enacting all the elements of the plan.
The Downtown Redevelopment Plan will be submitted as part of the city’s effort to win the Stellar Communities designation, which could open the door to millions of dollars in grant funding.
STELLAR is a state program designed to aid local communities in their redevelopment efforts to attract residents and businesses. The application must be submitted by July 1.
Having a detailed plan ready “fast-tracks” communities in the grant process, DeBaun said, during the council’s premeeting just before the regular meeting.
The state provides an $11,000 grant to help pay for the creating plan; $1,000 of that is to be used for a public event and discussion about the downtown proposal that is still to be scheduled.