While Kokomo Mayor Greg Goodnight admitted there wasn't a lot of mystery surrounding the city’s latest public-private development project, the new facility’s size and scope still warrants celebration.
"Honestly, this announcement may be the worst kept secret in Kokomo,” he joked.
Goodnight made the plans official Monday, announcing that Indianapolis-based property development firm Flaherty & Collins Properties will build an upscale apartment/mixed use development complex in downtown Kokomo.
Developers are expected to build around 197 high-end apartment units as part of the $32 million project totaling 230,000 gross square feet. The mixed use development will be constructed on the site of the 104-year-old former Northern Indiana Supply Company building, 304 S. Main St., placing the complex near the city’s recently-constructed $9 million Kokomo Municipal Stadium.
The pricetag tops last month’s announcement of a $20 million Kokomo Residential Care Facility slated for 410 S. Washington St. as the largest downtown investment in Kokomo history.
Contained in three, four-story structures, the facility will consist of almost entirely of new materials while maintaining the NISCO building’s current façade. It also will include 5,000 square feet of retail space, with renderings displaying outdoor seating along the Wildcat Creek.
While Flaherty & Collins Properties CEO David Flaherty said there isn’t a business committed to the space, the developer has “somebody we will be pursuing that we think will be a great asset for the baseball stadium.”
“What we’re doing here is carrying forward the vision Mayor Goodnight has for downtown Kokomo and that’s creating a sustainable, walkable, bike-able, connected downtown that is attractive to the top talent,” Flaherty said following a press conference at city hall Monday. “The fact that the city stepped forward with the stadium was very attractive to us with the development and made us want to go forward with this significant investment.”
Flaherty & Collins representatives were clear that Kokomo Municipal Stadium was a huge factor in deciding to take on the project, which is expected to begin construction in May 2016. Flaherty said he expects people could be moving into apartments as early as 12 months after the start of construction, with completion slated for the summer of 2017.
Goodnight said the city had been looking for suitors for the building for nearly five years, but that it only began to receive serious interest after it announced plans to build Kokomo Municipal Stadium, which made its debut in the spring.
“We knew we would need to take the first step in revitalizing and cleaning it up to make it more marketable,” Goodnight said.
Talks with the city dated back nearly two years, Flaherty said, with the announcement of plans for Kokomo Municipal Stadium serving a tipping point for the company.
“We went through a lot of different designs and tried desperately to see how much of the building we could save,” Flaherty said. “It takes a long time to figure stuff like that out.
“What sold us was we saw the commitment in Kokomo to making the downtown very special,” he added. “When we saw the baseball stadium was really going to happen, that upped our level of interest. We felt the demand was there and that people want to live here. Kokomo has a really neat downtown area and there’s the commitment to making it even better.”
Also aiding the project will be $5.235 million in tax credits approved by the Indiana Economic Development Corp. in December 2014, through the rarely-used Industrial Recovery Tax Credit, also known as the dinosaur tax credit. The tax credit was established to help redevelop large, vacant, old buildings.
Because the building is more than 100 years old, developers were able to claim the maximum possible from the dinosaur tax credit, which allows developers and communities to receive up to 25 percent of the cost of redevelopment in state tax credits. The city also will contribute $6.9 million in tax abatements, grants and other incentives, with the developers paying the remaining costs.
NEW DIGS
The buildings must maintain the current exterior in the new design plans, with NISCO’s façade on the northwest corner of the building combining with plans for brick, fiber cement and metal panels and balconies accompanying every unit.
There will be 16 studio apartments, 81 one-bedroom apartments and 100 two-bedroom apartments, averaging 900 square feet per unit. Rent for the apartments is expected to range from $675 per month for a studio apartment to $1,300 for a two-bedroom unit.
Flaherty & Collins Vice President of Development Austin Carmony, who will serve as lead developer on the project, said the apartments will offer all of the latest amenities from a 24-hour health center to a heated pool to granite countertops and stainless steel appliances.
“It’s so important to create these options for employers to get people to stay here and for the people who aren’t already here to come,” he said. “It’s a vital step in economic development.”
In addition, there will be parking on site, with 17 tuck-under garages, 106 surface spots, 89 gated surface spots, 18 retail spots and 60 spots for on-street parking.
Other highlights of the new development will include a fitness club with a private yoga area, e-café and kitchen equipped with computers and a coffee bar, fireside lounge, a dedicated dog park and a pet spa area with a bathing tub and grooming machine.
Many of the decisions in the luxury design, Carmony said, are made with millennials and young professionals in mind, as well as recent empty-nesters.
“Anytime you have the opportunity to bring development to a downtown that’s going to transform the city by bringing in residents, activate the area and support local businesses, it’s really exciting,” he said. “We’re bringing a high-quality development to downtown Kokomo that would never be possible without the financing, both with city and state support.”
RICH HISTORY
The new multi-use residential facility is expected to bring in hundreds of new residents to Kokomo’s downtown, while creating 200 jobs during the construction process, Flaherty said.
It will also allow the city to reuse the building, which sat dormant since 2007, by providing more downtown housing. The building once served as the home to the Apperson Automobile Company, originally called Riverside Machine Works, on the banks of the Wildcat Creek.
The building was destroyed by a fire in 1905 and was rebuilt in 1906 before being dramatically expanded in 1919. It is the site where Elwood Haynes first presented plans to the Apperson brothers to construct his horseless carriage, eventually serving as the location for the production of some of the nation’s first mass produced cars, including the Jackrabbit.
It had served as an industrial supply store and warehouse for years until shutting its doors eight years ago.
Continuing Kokomo’s downtown revitalization by re-purposing the old building is another step in making Kokomo a more connected city, Goodnight said.
“This site is important to the history of our city and it is in good hands now with Flaherty & Collins,” Goodnight said. “With properties in over 13 states, they are one of the most experienced and recognized developers of multi-family mixed use construction in the entire Midwest.”