BY KEN de la BASTIDE

Anderson Herald Bulletin Senior Reporter

Like a rising tide, the Town Center downtown revitalization project is spilling over its boundaries.

Fortune Management now wants to include property on Main Street. It's the second time in a month the Kokomo firm has expanded the project.

The company is snatching up an apartment building and a warehouse at 1315 and 1317 Main Street, said project manager Randy Kindig.

The plan is to tear down the warehouse for parking and green space for the College Block and Templeton buildings on Meridian Street, soon to turn into one-story condominiums.

"The apartment building is a new facility," said Kindig. "It will remain as an apartment building and just needs some minor work. It will provide affordable housing for young couples and possibly Anderson University grad students."

He said the goal is to create a residential area in the 1300 block of both Main and Meridian streets that will include parking, green space and amenities.

"The College Block, site of the former Shamrock tavern, will get a new street façade with some limestone and new windows," said Kindig. "The Templeton building needs a new façade to include windows, limestone work and new entrances."

Kindig expects the Town Center area to continue to grow.

"As we start work in one area, we start looking at surrounding blocks to see what improvements are needed," he said.

Kindig said work on the initial buildings is moving along without delay.

"If the foundation is in good shape, we will rehabilitate a building as long as they serve an effective purpose," he said. "We are fairly close to the schedule we would like to be on."

Kindig said the first two buildings to be finished will be 1213 Meridian St. and 115 E. Ninth St.

The Meridian Street building will be divvied up into up to five offices that will face the Town Center plaza. Two condominiums will occupy the second floor.

The former Tiny Towne building on Ninth Street will get a new façade with office space on the first floor and a condominium on the second floor.

The city of Anderson is loaning Fortune Management $2.1 million to rehabilitate several downtown buildings and create a public plaza near the intersection of 12th and Meridian streets.

A part of the project will turn 12th Street between Jackson and Meridian streets into a walkway.

Last month, the Anderson Economic Development Commission permitted Fortune Management to expand the project to include the Ryden Art gallery at 1119 Meridian St. and a parking lot at the corner of 13th and Jackson streets.