Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer was thrilled Tuesday to let the common council know a large grant had been approved for the North Buffalo Street Redevelopment Project.

“This is a very exciting announcement. This afternoon, the Northeast Indiana Regional Development Authority approved our Regional Cities Initiative grant of $3.5 million to our city and its development partner, Matthews LLC, for our North Buffalo Street project,” he stated at the council meeting.

The Regional Cities Grant still needs to be approved by the Indiana Economic Development Corp.

David Matthews, an urban developer from South Bend with Matthews LLC, will invest over $20 million into the community, creating an urban housing development within walking distance of downtown, Zimmer Biomet headquarters, Central Park and Center Lake.

“Construction will commence this spring to connect Indiana and Buffalo streets. Those improvements will include sidewalks, curbs, parking lanes, stormwater and wastewater improvements,” Thallemer said.

This fall, as the infrastructure improvements are completed, Matthews will begin development and construction of the initial phase of residential and urban homes, he said. Matthews plans to use local contractors and resources as the project dictates.
 
“This is a $27 million total project, urban housing and mixed-used development. And again, it will consist of two phases,” Thallemer continued.

The initial phase will be 52 townhomes, city homes and mews along both sides of North Buffalo Street between Fort Wayne Street and the city park property, according to a news release provided by the mayor.

The second phase will consist of a mixed-used development of commercial and residential on the site of the old Indiana American Water property down by the lake.

“Local funds for these infrastructure improvements will come from the 2015 Common Council-approved and Redevelopment Commission-sponsored Warsaw Redevelopment Authority tax increment financing bonds,” Thallemer explained.
“The city of Warsaw will spend a total of $3.56 million on this $27.56 million project that when completed is expected to return over a half million dollars in annual tax revenue and create from 85 to 90 new jobs.”

The $3.5 million will assist the city to develop a public park and plaza at the lake, as well as land acquisition and demolition, he said.

“In approving the project, the RDA recognized the City of Warsaw and their commitment to desirable housing and quality of place improvements designed to help attract and retain the specialized workforce talent that is so vital to our local industry,” Thallemer stated

“I am thankful of the careful foresight of the Council and Redevelopment Commission as well as the collaborative community planning exercised by our building and planning department, parks and recreation, street department, wastewater and stormwater utility, our engineer, city legal services. Our community is proud to move ahead with a project of this caliber.”

City Planner Jeremy Skinner then made the same presentation to the city council that he gave to the development authority in September.

“It is obviously a residential mixed-use development project that goes from Center Lake to the alley north of (East Fort Wayne Street). That’s where the targeted area will be,” Skinner indicated. “It will encompass what used to be the existing Indiana American Water property as well as some of the housing properties along Buffalo Street on both sides.”

Skinner sad the project focuses on a lot of what the Regional Cities initiatives were meant to do, which is to revitalize and target growth areas throughout the 11 counties that are a part of the Northeast Indiana Regional Development Authority.

North of the mixed-used building, which will be where the water building is now, will be a plaza. “The idea here is to continue to create that linear park and accentuate the existing opportunities we have at Center Park and the lake, as well as create a draw point to the lake and tie the downtown in to the lake,” Skinner said.

Amenities such as sidewalks, decorative street lights and trees will create an inviting corridor to draw people to the lake, which will end in the plaza. The plaza will be tied in to Central Park and park facilities. There will be an interactive water fountain, seating area and boardwalk to draw people in, as well as a public art piece.

The boat ramp currently at the end of Buffalo Street is being moved to off Ind. 15, south of Instru-Med on city-owned property, this year.

He said they are looking to start construction on the infrastructural portion this spring, with bidding on the project hopefully to take place in March.

“That construction will involve all the new reconstruction of Buffalo Street, the extension of Indiana Street as well as sanitary sewer replacement, which will involve a lift station as well as the stormwater work we’ve done. All that will be completed before the end of this year.”

Depending on the timeline and the weather, if everything goes well, Skinner said they’re hoping to start construction on the first townhome section this fall. The infrastructure has to be in place before that takes place.

The infrastructure and plaza will be completed within the next two years, he predicted. Matthews will then have 10 years after the infrastructure is in place to invest his $20.5 million in building the residences and mixed-used building.

As part of the RDA agreement, over the next four years Matthews will invest $4 million and that can come in the form of the homes or some of the homes with the mixed-used building, but that will be at the developer’s discretion, Skinner explained.

Phase I will total $17.56 million, with Matthews providing $10.5 million, the city $3.56 million and the state $3.5 million. Phase II will total $10.05 million from Matthews. Estimated total cost of the redevelopment project is $27.61 million.