GOSHEN — Goshen Redevelopment Commission members Tuesday learned that the developer of an upscale townhomes project targeted for Goshen's millrace will likely not begin construction on the housing spaces for at least another nine months due to a shortage of skilled workers in the area.
The project, in the works since 2012, is one of two housing developments planned for a six-acre stretch of land along the east side of Goshen’s millrace, generally located north of Douglas Street, south of Purl Street between River Race Drive and the millrace in downtown Goshen.
The idea behind the site’s development involves the townhomes project, represented by South Bend development firm Matthews LLC, and a second project, represented by Goshen developer Richard Miller, contributing to the overall scope of the property, with Matthews LLC developing the northern portion of the site, known as “Area B,” and Miller the southern portion of the site, known as “Area A.”
The Matthews LLC project, officially titled “Townhomes on the Millrace,” involves construction in three phases of approximately 24 luxury townhomes built in a variety of different heights and sizes, from 1,000 square feet to 6,000 square feet or more. As proposed, the first phase will include a block of approximately eight townhomes, with the future phases to come as demand dictates.
The Millrace Cohousing Neighborhood concept, which officially broke ground late last September, draws primarily from the idea of “cohousing,” a type of collaborative housing in which residents actively participate in the design and operation of their own neighborhoods. The property will feature a total of 14 single-family homes, as well as one large common house for use by the residents as a place for common dinners, gatherings and other social activities.
Worker shortage
According to David Matthews, founder of Matthews LLC, all of the streets, sidewalks, utilities and underlying infrastructure for the planned townhomes development are now complete, and the company is ready to begin building.
However, Matthews informed the commission Tuesday that a lack of available masons in the area has resulted in the company receiving astronomical bid prices for brick work, prices which would force the company to up its townhome prices by as much as $40,000 to $60,000 per unit should the company decide to pull the trigger on the project immediately.
“We’ve gone through 17 different masonry contractors, none of which have given us a bid,” Matthews said of the situation. “The numbers we have gotten have been crazy high.”
Asked if the company has looked at other siding options for the townhomes, Matthews said he has explored the possibility, but feels that brick fits most closely with his overall vision for the project, and he is loath to move away from the design, particularly if it involves utilizing cheaper materials that might compromise the overall quality and longevity of the development.
“We have a limestone and brick exterior design that is gorgeous, but we need masons to put it up,” Matthews said of the issue.
Speaking to the reasons behind the current masonry shortage, Matthews noted that the University of Notre Dame is currently undergoing a massive construction campaign involving around $1 billion in construction work, work which he said has essentially tied up every available masonry company in the area for months.
“And there’s a new casino on the south side of St. Joe County that’s going 24 hours a day, seven days a week with construction,” Matthews added. “Last week our construction manager said some masons started coming up and asking about what was in the pipeline, but we still don’t have a single firm quote back. We just have ridiculous numbers. So we’re just waiting until the labor market eases up, and then we’ll start construction.”
Responding to the question by commissioners of when construction work on the new townhomes may actually begin, Matthews said he predicts the current masonry labor shortage to begin easing within the next nine months, which would mean a tentative construction start date of around spring of next year.
“We’re halfway through this construction labor shortage, we think, masons are beginning to call, and I think in nine months we should be ready to go again,” Matthews said. “We’re trying to be creative and figure out how to get masons in the area. But right now we’re just waiting.”
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