Buffalo Street Project Moves Along With Housing, Mixed Uses
October 17, 2019 at 10:14 p.m.
Buffalo Street Project Moves Along With Housing, Mixed Uses
By David [email protected]
In an interview Tuesday, City Planner Jeremy Skinner said the project was originally going to be a boulevard with a new city hall where the old Indiana American Water building is at the end of North Buffalo Street.
That new city hall building the city was looking at constructing was probably around 10,000-12,000 square feet with a price tag of around $5 million. But then the city acquired the 30,000-square-foot former headquarters of First National Bank at the corner of Buffalo and Center streets in December 2010 for $1.3 million.
“So it was twice the square feet we were going to build for $5 million. And we had to do some remodeling, but the remodeling was around $1.8 million, so we spent ... a little over $3 million on this building, about twice the square footage of what we would have built new,” Skinner said.
The city already acquired some property along North Buffalo Street, and it told IAW that it intended to acquire its property.
“So we were already kind of going down that road, so we took a step back and started exploring options for a redevelopment project. So that’s how we came to what we have now,” Skinner explained.
As part of its options, the city knew it wanted to do “mixed use, high-density residential and some commercial with a public park down by the lake,” he said.
The city received grant money from the Castaldi family for the public plaza near Center Lake. “So a lot of that public plaza was centered around that money that we were going to get from them to do the plaza,” Skinner said.
The mixed-used building was centered around the IAW building. The building, park and plaza were all tied in together.
For the residential portion of the Buffalo Street project, Skinner said the city acquired the Heartline Pregnancy Center property first after it moved into the K21 Health Pavilion. “We originally purchased that knowing that we were going to put the city hall down there and we probably would need some extra space,” Skinner said.
Next, the city acquired an abandoned house that was constantly broken into. It had a Housing and Urban Development loan on it, and since it was abandoned, HUD offered it first to the local government.
The third house had a “for sale” on it and the city bought it.
“By the time we decided to move city hall here (downtown), we had already acquired two or three residential properties and agreed to acquire Indiana American Water’s property. That is how we ended up kind of shifting gears and focusing on another redevelopment project,” Skinner said.
The city had seen some of the things developer David Matthews was doing in South Bend with high-density residential. They met with him and pitched him the Buffalo Street development to see what his interest would be.
As the city was “full-bore” into the process, the state’s Regional Cities Initiative came about, which was aimed at attracting new residents to Indiana with millions of dollars in grant funding. At that time, the city already had an agreement with Matthews; had already purchased property; taken control of the IAW property; and had real preliminary designs on the different aspects of the developments, but hadn’t yet put it all together, Skinner said.
When Regional Cities came about, the city was able to get about $1.6 million in funding for the city to do the public plaza portion of the project. The plaza is out for bids now, and Skinner hopes that bid will be finalized and awarded by year’s end. A statue, funded by the Castaldis, is part of the plaza, but a private contract for a public art piece.
Skinner estimated Matthews’ town homes are 70-75% finished. He said Matthews wants to have one finished by sometime in November.
When Matthews is finished, there will be over 30 units, including 12-13 town homes, 16-18 mews and about 10 city homes. They are market-rate housing, and are not subsidized “by any stretch of the imagination,” Skinner said.
As for a mixed-use building where the IAW building now sits, Skinner said demolition could begin “as soon as a couple of months.”
He said the city’s agreement is with Matthews, and Matthews has 3.5 years to start construction on the mixed-use building from the completion of the street. The street improvements were completed in March, so Matthews has 3.5 years from this past March to start construction on the mixed-use building, with 4.5 years to finish it.
“But that could happen sooner, just depends on what deals take place,” Skinner said. Matthews is responsible for the demolition of the building.
The city received $1,615,000 from Regional Cities after it invested in reconstructing Buffalo Street. The city will use that money to do the plaza. Matthews gets $1,885,000 as he spends money on the town homes and mixed-use building.
“Those dollar amounts he spends, he gets a cut of the $1.8 million. The $1.8 million – the agreement was to fill that gap of the cost of demolition and land acquisition. But, obviously you have to acquire the property and tear it down before you can build anything, so by the time he acquires and tears down, he’s already spent his own money. He’s not going to get the money until he builds something, so it’s kind of goofy but that’s in essence what it was for,” Skinner said.
Matthews has 10 years to finish all of his portion of the Buffalo Street project. If the timeline started in March 2019, Skinner said that by March 2029, everything could be completed. He said it’s no different than any other residential subdivision.
The city, county and community foundation are working on a housing study, set to be completed by December. Skinner said the Buffalo Street housing will help fill in some of the housing needs of the city.
“I think it comes down to having different types of housing. This is something new for Warsaw. We haven’t had this type of high-density housing. So this will be a little bit different than what we’ve seen. We have high-density apartments, but we don’t necessarily have high-density single-family owner-occupied units. These are high-density owner-occupied units, they are not apartments,” Skinner said.
The city needs to focus on what types of housing and price ranges of housing are needed, he said.
Matthews’ investment in the Buffalo Street project is around $20 million, with $1.8 million from the state, but Skinner said the total value that Matthews is building is estimated over $20 million.
“So it’s to our benefit twofold,” Skinner said. “One, we create housing. That housing has people that live there. They may or may not have kids that go to our schools The school benefits because the more kids they have, the more money they get. We get tax dollars on the residential development. We get income tax from the people that live here and work here. All those factors play into the overall success of the project. ... It’s a lot larger picture. Those people work in our community, play in our community, they shop in our community. It’s never just as simple as we collect taxes on a house. It’s a lot more complex than that.”
In an interview Tuesday, City Planner Jeremy Skinner said the project was originally going to be a boulevard with a new city hall where the old Indiana American Water building is at the end of North Buffalo Street.
That new city hall building the city was looking at constructing was probably around 10,000-12,000 square feet with a price tag of around $5 million. But then the city acquired the 30,000-square-foot former headquarters of First National Bank at the corner of Buffalo and Center streets in December 2010 for $1.3 million.
“So it was twice the square feet we were going to build for $5 million. And we had to do some remodeling, but the remodeling was around $1.8 million, so we spent ... a little over $3 million on this building, about twice the square footage of what we would have built new,” Skinner said.
The city already acquired some property along North Buffalo Street, and it told IAW that it intended to acquire its property.
“So we were already kind of going down that road, so we took a step back and started exploring options for a redevelopment project. So that’s how we came to what we have now,” Skinner explained.
As part of its options, the city knew it wanted to do “mixed use, high-density residential and some commercial with a public park down by the lake,” he said.
The city received grant money from the Castaldi family for the public plaza near Center Lake. “So a lot of that public plaza was centered around that money that we were going to get from them to do the plaza,” Skinner said.
The mixed-used building was centered around the IAW building. The building, park and plaza were all tied in together.
For the residential portion of the Buffalo Street project, Skinner said the city acquired the Heartline Pregnancy Center property first after it moved into the K21 Health Pavilion. “We originally purchased that knowing that we were going to put the city hall down there and we probably would need some extra space,” Skinner said.
Next, the city acquired an abandoned house that was constantly broken into. It had a Housing and Urban Development loan on it, and since it was abandoned, HUD offered it first to the local government.
The third house had a “for sale” on it and the city bought it.
“By the time we decided to move city hall here (downtown), we had already acquired two or three residential properties and agreed to acquire Indiana American Water’s property. That is how we ended up kind of shifting gears and focusing on another redevelopment project,” Skinner said.
The city had seen some of the things developer David Matthews was doing in South Bend with high-density residential. They met with him and pitched him the Buffalo Street development to see what his interest would be.
As the city was “full-bore” into the process, the state’s Regional Cities Initiative came about, which was aimed at attracting new residents to Indiana with millions of dollars in grant funding. At that time, the city already had an agreement with Matthews; had already purchased property; taken control of the IAW property; and had real preliminary designs on the different aspects of the developments, but hadn’t yet put it all together, Skinner said.
When Regional Cities came about, the city was able to get about $1.6 million in funding for the city to do the public plaza portion of the project. The plaza is out for bids now, and Skinner hopes that bid will be finalized and awarded by year’s end. A statue, funded by the Castaldis, is part of the plaza, but a private contract for a public art piece.
Skinner estimated Matthews’ town homes are 70-75% finished. He said Matthews wants to have one finished by sometime in November.
When Matthews is finished, there will be over 30 units, including 12-13 town homes, 16-18 mews and about 10 city homes. They are market-rate housing, and are not subsidized “by any stretch of the imagination,” Skinner said.
As for a mixed-use building where the IAW building now sits, Skinner said demolition could begin “as soon as a couple of months.”
He said the city’s agreement is with Matthews, and Matthews has 3.5 years to start construction on the mixed-use building from the completion of the street. The street improvements were completed in March, so Matthews has 3.5 years from this past March to start construction on the mixed-use building, with 4.5 years to finish it.
“But that could happen sooner, just depends on what deals take place,” Skinner said. Matthews is responsible for the demolition of the building.
The city received $1,615,000 from Regional Cities after it invested in reconstructing Buffalo Street. The city will use that money to do the plaza. Matthews gets $1,885,000 as he spends money on the town homes and mixed-use building.
“Those dollar amounts he spends, he gets a cut of the $1.8 million. The $1.8 million – the agreement was to fill that gap of the cost of demolition and land acquisition. But, obviously you have to acquire the property and tear it down before you can build anything, so by the time he acquires and tears down, he’s already spent his own money. He’s not going to get the money until he builds something, so it’s kind of goofy but that’s in essence what it was for,” Skinner said.
Matthews has 10 years to finish all of his portion of the Buffalo Street project. If the timeline started in March 2019, Skinner said that by March 2029, everything could be completed. He said it’s no different than any other residential subdivision.
The city, county and community foundation are working on a housing study, set to be completed by December. Skinner said the Buffalo Street housing will help fill in some of the housing needs of the city.
“I think it comes down to having different types of housing. This is something new for Warsaw. We haven’t had this type of high-density housing. So this will be a little bit different than what we’ve seen. We have high-density apartments, but we don’t necessarily have high-density single-family owner-occupied units. These are high-density owner-occupied units, they are not apartments,” Skinner said.
The city needs to focus on what types of housing and price ranges of housing are needed, he said.
Matthews’ investment in the Buffalo Street project is around $20 million, with $1.8 million from the state, but Skinner said the total value that Matthews is building is estimated over $20 million.
“So it’s to our benefit twofold,” Skinner said. “One, we create housing. That housing has people that live there. They may or may not have kids that go to our schools The school benefits because the more kids they have, the more money they get. We get tax dollars on the residential development. We get income tax from the people that live here and work here. All those factors play into the overall success of the project. ... It’s a lot larger picture. Those people work in our community, play in our community, they shop in our community. It’s never just as simple as we collect taxes on a house. It’s a lot more complex than that.”
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