GOSHEN – A developer announced plans for a $14.5 million, 46-rental apartment and park on 3rd Street Tuesday.
Scott Sivan, an architect and real estate developer with Insite Development, announced the project during a special meeting of the Goshen Redevelopment Commission. The River Art complex would be located just north of the Hawks Building at the corner of 3rd and Jefferson streets and might also make use of the northern portion of the former furniture factory for 18 condominiums, he said.
Sivan described his plan for a five-floor U-shaped building with a second-story private courtyard and an upper-floor community room. The inside of the U would face a public park to be built along the canal, with art installations selected by a competition among local artists.
“We want to literally make it a community art park,” he said. “Our mission and part of our strategy is to be part of the redevelopment zone downtown. We see ourselves as becoming a central player in the zone and helping the downtown expand.”
He said it would be similar to Barak River Rock apartments in Mishawaka, which he helped develop in 2013 and which has a diverse population of tenants. He hopes to break ground in June or July 2018 and open one year later.
LaCasa turned the southern portion of the factory along Mill Race Canal into 35 one- and two-bedroom loft apartments. LaCasa President Larry Gautsche said they’ve been talking with developers for years about using the rest of the Hawks and that Sivan’s was the best plan they’ve seen.
The plan received similar praise from other people who attended the meeting, though they also expressed concerns about parking and traffic and some hesitancy over modern stylings of the proposed design. Sivan said the modern design was thought to be the most appropriate, and noted people had similar concerns with River Rock at first.
“We said, this is what we do,” he remarked. “Now people say they can’t imagine Mishawaka without it.”
The city will have to make a number of improvements around the complex, such as building a public parking area nearby to supplement the complex’s own lot, widen River Race Drive another half-block north of Jefferson Street to allow two-way traffic and move some utility poles to give residents a better view, said Goshen Redevelopment Director Mark Brinson. The city will also have to demolish the vacant rental properties now on the land.
He said developers would have to lease the land from the city and get part of the Hawks directly from LaCasa. He said developers haven’t yet submitted site plans, which will have to go through the city plan commission and council for approval.
The Redevelopment Commission will discuss the project again at its regular meeting Dec. 12 at 3 p.m.
Article Source: The Elkhart Truth
