Ceremonial Groundbreaking Takes Place For The 2525 Apartments
November 11, 2022 at 12:32 a.m.
Ceremonial Groundbreaking Takes Place For The 2525 Apartments
By David L. Slone-
Today, with the Arnolt building demolished and gone and the environmental issues removed, Thallemer was one of four speakers for the groundbreaking ceremony of The 2525 affordable apartments being developed by RealAmerica at 2525 Durbin St. The 2525 is expected to be completed by fall 2023.
Opening the groundbreaking ceremony, RealAmerica Vice President of Development Mike Surak said, “We’re thrilled to be here today and doing another project in Warsaw. We did our first development here in (Heron) Preserve Apartments in Warsaw in the early 2000s. We followed that up with a second phase, which was for 99 total affordable tax credit units. We then did Heron Corporate Housing, which is a market rate development, around 2015. So we’re thrilled to be back here in Warsaw and really this project came about with conversations with the city.”
Surak said RealAmerica was directed to 2525 Durbin St. by the Warsaw Planning Department and Community and Economic Development Director Jeremy Skinner. The building had sat vacant for a long time and had a number of environmental issues, he said.
“We’re really pleased to be a part of the redevelopment of this area,” Surak said. “In conversations with Alan Tio and KEDCO (Kosciusko Economic Development Director), we came to learn more about the Argonne Corridor Redevelopment Plan, and we’re happy to be a part of that and really kick off the redevelopment in this corridor and this location.”
The 2525 apartments will be a 60-unit tax credit affordable housing development, Surak stated. “It will have a range of affordability, a pretty wide range: 30% AMI (area median income) to 60% AMI units. We’ll have one- to four-bedroom apartments, so really catering to a variety of people, families and needs,” he said.
As RealAmerica started to look into the market and the feasibility of the project, Surak said it became really clear that there was quite a bit of demand for more affordable housing in Warsaw.
There will be two residential three-story walk-up buildings. The longer of the two will be in the northeast corner of the site, with the second building at the southeast corner of the site. Surak said there will be a playground, dog park, a sports court and a grill and picnic area. There also will be a community clubhouse building.
“With this project, we wanted to have really a theme of career betterment and education and growth, and we reached out to people like Allyn Decker with Ivy Tech and also Grace College. We designed a larger than we typically do community building and so we have a multi-purpose room where people can meet with tutors, people who assist with financial aid. ... There’s a single mothers initiative that we think is something that could really be great. We would love to kick that off with this project and then replicate that at other locations throughout the state,” Surak explained.
There also will be a computer room with a separate room for private Zoom meetings. A special area will allow families to let their younger children play.
There will be free WiFi throughout the buildings for residents, along with unit washers and dryers. Every unit will have a balcony or patio.
Surak concluded his speech by thanking project partners, including the city of Warsaw, IHCDA (Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority), Merchants Capital Corp., Merchants Bank of Indiana, Warsaw Housing Authority, KEDCO, Indiana Finance Authority and Indiana Brownfields, a number of environmental consultants, Ivy Tech, Cripe Architects, Legacy 25 and RealAmerica Construction and Design.
In his comments, Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer said the project was a real win for the community. It helps with the housing issues in the city, eliminates a blighted area that was also a security problem and an environmental issue also was taken care of.
“We’ve been able to, in the last two, three years, take care of all of those things and here we stand today ready to make this property that’s going to assist with housing and certainly be a real catalyst for the development on the Argonne Road Corridor,” Thallemer said.
The corridor originally was put in the city’s plans back in 2015-16 when the city was a finalist for the state’s Stellar communities program. The city felt the corridor was a critical gateway into and out of the town of Winona Lake, he said.
“Certainly, we’ve come a long way since then. I know KEDCO and Alan and his group have fleshed that out a bit and this is the first meat on the bone,” Thallemer said. “So, we’re really, really excited about this.”
Over the last five years, Thallemer said the city’s worked with its partners on the housing issue, both renter and owner-occupied.
“This is the third recent multi-family project now in the ground. 802 Center was 72 senior affordable units. Northwest Townhomes, 42 market-rate units under construction right now. And, obviously, here, 60 units. We’ve got another project, that was a private project with Miller’s - Crossing at County Farm - another 16 senior units. So, just in the last few years, we’ve added a 190 total rental units to our community to try and meet this demand,” Thallemer said.
He talked about how the former Arnolt Corp. property had a been a “really challenged” site. But with partners like MACOG (Michiana Area Council of Governments), Indiana Finance Authority and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management’s brownfield program, the environmental concerns were mitigated.
Thallemer also recognized the city’s partners, including Warsaw Housing Authority, Ivy Tech, the city’s Building and Planning Department and Skinner.
“In the end, the city donated the land. We had acquired this piece of property from receivership several years ago, and once we identified our partner, I think the environmental concerns came to the surface and we started attacking them,” Thallemer said. “Here we stand, being able to donate this property to you for this wonderful development.”
The city also demolished the former Arnolt building and provided a tax abatement for the 2525 apartments.
State partnerships included IHCDA, which Thallemer said has provided a significant amount of assistance in the community, including Little Crow apartments, 802 Center, The 2525 and the Anchor Employer Workforce Housing Grant; MACOG, IFA and IDEM.
“Again, significant effort from all of our partners to create new housing opportunity for 60 families on a site that a few years ago was a blighted environmental mess,” Thallemer stated. “A lot of work from the community and our partners, but we wouldn’t be here without RealAmerica. And, again, not new to our community, they’ve proven themselves up at Heron Preserve. So, on behalf of the city of Warsaw, we want to thank you, RealAmerica, and you Mike especially for your leadership, in developing this project on a previously blighted environmentally-challenged site and invigorating the Argonne Road Corridor, a goal of the city. This project will be a catalyst to redevelopment in the area. Thank you, RealAmerica.”
Tio said these kind of projects help the community to set the narrative of what’s possible. Employers are looking for these kind of investments.
“Kudos to the city. Thank you to the city for all the investments that help us get here, help set the table if you will to do the planning, to help make it attractive for RealAmerica to be here today,” Tio said.
He said this was the first step in many toward seeing investments in the Argonne Road Corridor and there was so many potential here.
Jerri Bain, director of real estate lending with IHCDA, said, “We are pleased to have participated with RealAmerica. We are pleased to be a part of this and help bring this housing to Warsaw.”
Josh Reed, with Merchants Capital, said Merchants Capital was proud and honored to partner with the RealAmerica team “on a great project to provide 60 high-quality, affordable homes to this community.” Merchants is committed to providing $11 million in a construction loan, over $10 million in equity and a $3 million perm loan for financing of the 2525 project, he said.
“This marks the 33rd project we’ve worked with RealAmerica on as Merchants Capital and Merchants Bank,” Reed said, but the first to financing equity for the tax credit program “so we’re excited about that opportunity.”
After the groundbreaking ceremony, Warsaw Housing Authority Director Pam Kennedy said, “We’re going to put Project-Based Vouchers in here, not just Housing Choice Vouchers, which means they’re setting aside 20% of the units that can only be rented to people that have come to us that we put in here.”
She said that helps WHA gets people out of living in cars faster, people out of sleeping on friends’ couches and “things like that.”
“And with this only going up to 60% instead of 80%, there’s only 10% of the people that won’t qualify with vouchers here,” Kennedy said. “So, the rents will be low enough here and we’re excited about, not just because the brownfield is gone, but the shopping center is starting to go. They can walk and we have a lot of people with no cars. So they can get a job here, they can get to the grocery.”
For more information about The 2525, visit HomeAtThe2525.com; call 888-747-6815; or email [email protected].
Today, with the Arnolt building demolished and gone and the environmental issues removed, Thallemer was one of four speakers for the groundbreaking ceremony of The 2525 affordable apartments being developed by RealAmerica at 2525 Durbin St. The 2525 is expected to be completed by fall 2023.
Opening the groundbreaking ceremony, RealAmerica Vice President of Development Mike Surak said, “We’re thrilled to be here today and doing another project in Warsaw. We did our first development here in (Heron) Preserve Apartments in Warsaw in the early 2000s. We followed that up with a second phase, which was for 99 total affordable tax credit units. We then did Heron Corporate Housing, which is a market rate development, around 2015. So we’re thrilled to be back here in Warsaw and really this project came about with conversations with the city.”
Surak said RealAmerica was directed to 2525 Durbin St. by the Warsaw Planning Department and Community and Economic Development Director Jeremy Skinner. The building had sat vacant for a long time and had a number of environmental issues, he said.
“We’re really pleased to be a part of the redevelopment of this area,” Surak said. “In conversations with Alan Tio and KEDCO (Kosciusko Economic Development Director), we came to learn more about the Argonne Corridor Redevelopment Plan, and we’re happy to be a part of that and really kick off the redevelopment in this corridor and this location.”
The 2525 apartments will be a 60-unit tax credit affordable housing development, Surak stated. “It will have a range of affordability, a pretty wide range: 30% AMI (area median income) to 60% AMI units. We’ll have one- to four-bedroom apartments, so really catering to a variety of people, families and needs,” he said.
As RealAmerica started to look into the market and the feasibility of the project, Surak said it became really clear that there was quite a bit of demand for more affordable housing in Warsaw.
There will be two residential three-story walk-up buildings. The longer of the two will be in the northeast corner of the site, with the second building at the southeast corner of the site. Surak said there will be a playground, dog park, a sports court and a grill and picnic area. There also will be a community clubhouse building.
“With this project, we wanted to have really a theme of career betterment and education and growth, and we reached out to people like Allyn Decker with Ivy Tech and also Grace College. We designed a larger than we typically do community building and so we have a multi-purpose room where people can meet with tutors, people who assist with financial aid. ... There’s a single mothers initiative that we think is something that could really be great. We would love to kick that off with this project and then replicate that at other locations throughout the state,” Surak explained.
There also will be a computer room with a separate room for private Zoom meetings. A special area will allow families to let their younger children play.
There will be free WiFi throughout the buildings for residents, along with unit washers and dryers. Every unit will have a balcony or patio.
Surak concluded his speech by thanking project partners, including the city of Warsaw, IHCDA (Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority), Merchants Capital Corp., Merchants Bank of Indiana, Warsaw Housing Authority, KEDCO, Indiana Finance Authority and Indiana Brownfields, a number of environmental consultants, Ivy Tech, Cripe Architects, Legacy 25 and RealAmerica Construction and Design.
In his comments, Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer said the project was a real win for the community. It helps with the housing issues in the city, eliminates a blighted area that was also a security problem and an environmental issue also was taken care of.
“We’ve been able to, in the last two, three years, take care of all of those things and here we stand today ready to make this property that’s going to assist with housing and certainly be a real catalyst for the development on the Argonne Road Corridor,” Thallemer said.
The corridor originally was put in the city’s plans back in 2015-16 when the city was a finalist for the state’s Stellar communities program. The city felt the corridor was a critical gateway into and out of the town of Winona Lake, he said.
“Certainly, we’ve come a long way since then. I know KEDCO and Alan and his group have fleshed that out a bit and this is the first meat on the bone,” Thallemer said. “So, we’re really, really excited about this.”
Over the last five years, Thallemer said the city’s worked with its partners on the housing issue, both renter and owner-occupied.
“This is the third recent multi-family project now in the ground. 802 Center was 72 senior affordable units. Northwest Townhomes, 42 market-rate units under construction right now. And, obviously, here, 60 units. We’ve got another project, that was a private project with Miller’s - Crossing at County Farm - another 16 senior units. So, just in the last few years, we’ve added a 190 total rental units to our community to try and meet this demand,” Thallemer said.
He talked about how the former Arnolt Corp. property had a been a “really challenged” site. But with partners like MACOG (Michiana Area Council of Governments), Indiana Finance Authority and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management’s brownfield program, the environmental concerns were mitigated.
Thallemer also recognized the city’s partners, including Warsaw Housing Authority, Ivy Tech, the city’s Building and Planning Department and Skinner.
“In the end, the city donated the land. We had acquired this piece of property from receivership several years ago, and once we identified our partner, I think the environmental concerns came to the surface and we started attacking them,” Thallemer said. “Here we stand, being able to donate this property to you for this wonderful development.”
The city also demolished the former Arnolt building and provided a tax abatement for the 2525 apartments.
State partnerships included IHCDA, which Thallemer said has provided a significant amount of assistance in the community, including Little Crow apartments, 802 Center, The 2525 and the Anchor Employer Workforce Housing Grant; MACOG, IFA and IDEM.
“Again, significant effort from all of our partners to create new housing opportunity for 60 families on a site that a few years ago was a blighted environmental mess,” Thallemer stated. “A lot of work from the community and our partners, but we wouldn’t be here without RealAmerica. And, again, not new to our community, they’ve proven themselves up at Heron Preserve. So, on behalf of the city of Warsaw, we want to thank you, RealAmerica, and you Mike especially for your leadership, in developing this project on a previously blighted environmentally-challenged site and invigorating the Argonne Road Corridor, a goal of the city. This project will be a catalyst to redevelopment in the area. Thank you, RealAmerica.”
Tio said these kind of projects help the community to set the narrative of what’s possible. Employers are looking for these kind of investments.
“Kudos to the city. Thank you to the city for all the investments that help us get here, help set the table if you will to do the planning, to help make it attractive for RealAmerica to be here today,” Tio said.
He said this was the first step in many toward seeing investments in the Argonne Road Corridor and there was so many potential here.
Jerri Bain, director of real estate lending with IHCDA, said, “We are pleased to have participated with RealAmerica. We are pleased to be a part of this and help bring this housing to Warsaw.”
Josh Reed, with Merchants Capital, said Merchants Capital was proud and honored to partner with the RealAmerica team “on a great project to provide 60 high-quality, affordable homes to this community.” Merchants is committed to providing $11 million in a construction loan, over $10 million in equity and a $3 million perm loan for financing of the 2525 project, he said.
“This marks the 33rd project we’ve worked with RealAmerica on as Merchants Capital and Merchants Bank,” Reed said, but the first to financing equity for the tax credit program “so we’re excited about that opportunity.”
After the groundbreaking ceremony, Warsaw Housing Authority Director Pam Kennedy said, “We’re going to put Project-Based Vouchers in here, not just Housing Choice Vouchers, which means they’re setting aside 20% of the units that can only be rented to people that have come to us that we put in here.”
She said that helps WHA gets people out of living in cars faster, people out of sleeping on friends’ couches and “things like that.”
“And with this only going up to 60% instead of 80%, there’s only 10% of the people that won’t qualify with vouchers here,” Kennedy said. “So, the rents will be low enough here and we’re excited about, not just because the brownfield is gone, but the shopping center is starting to go. They can walk and we have a lot of people with no cars. So they can get a job here, they can get to the grocery.”
For more information about The 2525, visit HomeAtThe2525.com; call 888-747-6815; or email [email protected].
Have a news tip? Email [email protected] or Call/Text 360-922-3092