Thursday didn't turn out to be the day for which city officials had long hoped.
Last fall, local architect Andy Myszak announced that behalf of INVin, a not-for-profit organization aimed at increasing downtown investment, he would pursue federal funding to fund the construction of a 32-unit apartment complex on First Street on the banks of the Wabash River.
Thursday was the day he was find out whether the application for over $725,000 in tax credits plus another $900,000 in federal funds had been approved.
But Thursday turned out to be filled with bad news.
“We did not get the award,” Myszak said during a brief telephone interview. “But we'll resubmit. And we have another (funding) avenue we're looking at. There are other opportunities.
“So we are disappointed but determined.”
Mayor Joe Yochum had been waiting on pins and needles for the announcement, too.
Not only was the funding going toward Riverview Lofts, set to be constructed at the site of the old grain silos at 104 N. First St., but also to the construction of 22 single-family homes on empty lots throughout the city, a perfect complement to the city's state-funded efforts to eliminate blight.
“We were hoping for this. We really were,” Yochum said dejectedly. “So it's very disappointing.
“But it's not the end. There are alternatives.”
Riverview Lofts was designed to include 22 affordable units as well as 10 market-rate apartments on the top floor. All of them would be one-bedroom units.
The project would also include two retail spaces on either end of the ground floor.
The individual houses would be constructed on city lots made empty by the recent razing of eyesore homes, all with money from the state's Hardest Hit Fund.
Those homes, Myszak had explained during numerous hearings and meetings, would be income-based but would then go fully onto the city's tax rolls after 15 years. The same would be true for the 22 affordable apartment units downtown.
The total project would have been a $9.4 million investment in the community.
The Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority cited the project's low score (145.85) as a reason for its being turned down, even though five other projects, including ones in Evansville and Greene County, actually scored lower and yet were awarded funding.
Myszak has done similar riverfront apartment complexes all over the state, and he said “several” weren't approved for funding the first time around. One particular project in Elwood, he said, was denied twice before finally receiving funding this year.
Myszak can apply again in November, he said, but the mayor indicated he was looking in the meantime at another possibility.
“Option No. 1 could come a little sooner,” Myszak said. “But we can't announce that just yet.
“And if that doesn't work, then we'll reapply this fall.”
Yochum said he will speak more on the “alternative” funding source during his State of the City address Monday night after the city council meeting, which gets under way at 6 p.m.
Myszak also said they learned a few things from the application. There were 62 applications made, he said, and 16 were awarded with funding this year.
It's all based on a specific scoring system, he said, so there are areas to improve for next time.
“It's a process,” he said. “You put in your application, and you see where your deficiencies are. You fix this, change that and resubmit.
“We'll just have to see what transpires now,” Myszak said. “But we're not giving up.”
It was the same federal tax credits for which Myszak was denied Thursday that went to fund the near $9 million Clark's Crossing project, an effort that transformed the former Vincennes Community School Corp. administration building downtown into a 47-unit senior affordable housing complex.
Historic Adams Coliseum, too, got a $1 million makeover.
Editor and publisher Gayle R. Robbins contributed to this report.