HUNTINGBURG — There is no doubt about it. The former St. Joseph’s Hospital on the north side of Huntingburg will indeed be renovated and turned into senior housing.
Mayor Denny Spinner delivered the news to the Huntingburg Common Council during Thursday’s meeting. The hospital renovation was one of the flagship projects in the city’s Stellar Communities application, an honor the city captured in August. Cincinnati-based development group Miller-Valentine has since been working to secure the premises. Spinner said he received an email from Miller-Valentine’s Pete Schwiegeraht on Wednesday.
“It was one of the shortest and best emails I’ve ever gotten. All it said was ‘Closed and financed,’” Spinner told the council.
The building, which has sat vacant since 2007 and withstood several failed bids for rejuvenation, will be seeing construction in the very near future. Residents will see renovations and demolitions to existing portions of the building and the construction of new structures to create 45 units of housing for individuals 55 and older.
An official ground-breaking ceremony is tentatively scheduled for 10:30 a.m. on Friday, March 27.
“This is a great day for the City of Huntingburg,” Spinner said.
The Stellar news kept rolling Thursday, as Spinner and Planning Director Paul Lake provided updates on the Ninth Street Extension project. Spinner, Lake and Community Development Director Rachel Steckler met with Stellar agencies Tuesday to present a quarterly update. Representatives from the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority, Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs and Indiana Department of Transportation were impressed with the continued involvement of Huntingburg’s citizens, many of whom are volunteering time to sub-committees.
Lake also announced that the Ninth Street project has officially gone to bid, the first of the Stellar projects to do so. The project is an extension of the railroad overpass project, between Styline Drive and Moenkhaus Drive, that will alleviate congestion because of frequent railroad traffic.
“We will have a project under construction within a year of accepting the Stellar designation. Not many communities can do that,” Lake said.
Bids will be reviewed at the Redevelopment Commission meeting at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, at City Hall, 508 E. Fourth St.
Spinner topped off the Stellar-related information by announcing the Stellar Endowment, created in partnership with the Dubois County Community Foundation, has raised $835,000 through public and private donations. The five-year goal to raise $1.8 million, Spinner said, looks achievable given the early support and the fact that the endowment has not yet been advertised to the public.
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