New housing and business development projects will continue in Downtown Evansville this year and beyond, F.C. Tucker Emge officials said Thursday during the local company’s annual “State of Real Estate” presentation at Old National Events Plaza.
The 18-floor tower at 420 Main St. is to be redeveloped this year and next for mixed use, according to F.C. Tucker Emge. It went on the market in fall 2015 and was occupied by Old National Bank before the bank’s move to Main Street and Riverside Drive in 2004.
Ownership entity City Tower Group LLC will invest $25 million in the tower. The group consists of three local investors; F.C. Tucker Emge officials declined to identify them.
Floors 12 through 18 will become luxury condominiums, with prices varying depending on unit size. The largest will be an 8,000-square-foot unit taking up a whole floor, said Ken Newcomb, president of F.C. Tucker Emge Commercial.
Floors 7-11 will be used as office space by the tower’s current tenants, and will be available for new office tenants.
The sixth floor, with a balcony overlooking Main Street and the Ohio River, could accommodate different uses such as a restaurant and office space. Lower floor uses remain the subject of conversation, Newcomb said.
Plans call for replacement of all windows and removal of concrete panels covering the tower.
City Tower Group LLC contracted last year with local contractor PCI/ Skanska to examine the tower’s structure, heat and air system and electrical system.
“After the plans and costs were approved, the developers saw a wonder-
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ful opportunity,” Newcomb said. “Plans for investment in the building will include all necessary improvements to bring it up to today’s standards.”
The 47-year-old building is the tallest within 120 miles of Evansville. Before going on the market two years ago, it was owned by a Baltimore company.
“The total reconstruction of this building will create an icon that Evansville will be proud of,” Newcomb said.
Roof and utility work is to begin this year. Major reconstruction is not expected to start until 2018.
During Thursday’s presentation, F.C. Tucker Emge officials also elaborated on plans for The Market, another envisioned mixed-use development for Downtown.
The $40-$50 million project is to be funded with $9.3 million in state Regional Cities dollars, along with a mix of private and other public sources. F.C. Tucker officials said two previously announced Regional Cities projects, The Market on Walnut and The New Urban Living Research Center, have been morphed into one project known as The Market.
Vectren Corp. and Haier America are involved in The Market as testers of new energy technologies and smart appliances.
“This could be a game changer for our area, not only (because) it will provide additional upscale housing options we desperately need, but (because it) could also drive potential employment opportunities for the partners involved,” said Kyle Bernhardt, an F.C. Tucker Emge agent in residential and commercial property management.
“Based on the public-private partnership formula, this project could require more than $27 million in private equity to become a reality,” Bernhardt told the State of Real Estate program audience, which included several guests from the Evansville finance community. “Without taking into account the other projects included within the initiative, just this amount of additional investment in our community has the potential to explode exponentially.”
A Downtown location for The Market development has not been announced. The project is to be submitted to the Indiana Economic Development Corp. for funding later this year.
In some other news from the State of Real Estate program:
» F.C. Tucker Emge officials said 2,621 existing homes were sold in Vanderburgh County in 2016, up 10 percent from 2015. In Warrick County, 1,175 homes were sold, up 31 percent.
» New home construction starts also are up — 30 percent in Vanderburgh and 15 percent in Warrick. Clear Crest Estates and The Fairways at Cambridge are new northern Vanderburgh subdivision projects forthcoming. F.C. Tucker Emge staff also pointed to 40 available new lots on the North Side at Creekside Meadows and 95 lots over 38 acres at an East Side development called Terra Vista.
» Early this year, construction is to start on a $55 million project at Victoria National in Warrick County, with 550 residences in a “lifestyle community” over 405 acres. Residences are to be available by early 2018. Also in Warrick, the Driftwood Parke subdivision is to be built at the Newburgh site where a Walmart Neighborhood Market was scrapped. Driftwood Parke is to have 52 single-family homes and 24 condo units.
» Gabe’s, a department store, was announced as a new occupant in the North Green River Road shopping center just north of Eastland Mall. It will move into the space that had been JC Penney Home Store.
» Despite some recent West Side retail growth in the Lloyd Expressway and Pearl Drive area, no new tenants are imminent for the empty former Walmart space, north of the Lloyd.
» WNIN is still planning to relocate from the Historic Carpenter Home to the 44 Main St. building at Main and Riverside, while Townsquare Media, whose Downtown office is in the way of the new medical school, recently signed a long-term lease in the Fifth Third Bank tower, where they will occupy a full floor once renovations are done.