Breaking out the gold shovels. Left to right, Beth Barrett (Congressman Donnelly's representative), Ralph Winters (Councilman), Ed Pinder (Councilman), Ronald Liechty (Garden Court President), Casey Howard (Clerk Treasurer), Ginny Munroe (Council President), Kevin Berger (Easterday Construction) – Picture by Pam Fisher
Today we had the ground breaking ceremony for Culver Garden Court. As you can see in the picture, actual ground breaking occurred over a week ago and we already half completed rough grading and have the building pad in place. There was a pretty good turnout including dignitaries from Culver and Plymouth as well as a representative from Congressman Joe Donnelly’s office. I was pleased that Culver Council President Ginny Munroe attended along with Council Members Ralph Winters and Ed Pinder. The Culver Town Manager, Michael Doss, was there as well as the Culver Clerk Treasurer, Casey Howard.
Culver Garden Court, Inc. is a HUD 202 project. It is a 13 unit assisted living facility for senior citizens. It is sponsored by Garden Court, Inc., a not-for-profit corporation located in Plymouth which has worked to provide affordable housing to Marshall County residents for over 40 years. It will be the 7th Garden Court built by Easterday Construction. We have been working for years trying to find suitable property for a Garden Court in Culver and are extremely pleased that the Culver Town Council had the foresight to help with this project and that Wade and Claudia McGee chose to make property available for this project.
Our contract with Garden Court and HUD allows us 12 months for completion, but we will strive to complete work in the 9-10 month range. We will work to have the facility weathered in quickly which will allow us to proceed with interior finishes even in inclement weather conditions.
Melba Easterday is my Great Aunt. She is wholly deserving of the prefix to that title. I was truly sorry that I was unable to attend her 90th birthday celebration last month. Unfortunately, we had already made travel plans and had purchased plane tickets when we received the invitation to save the date. I hope that it was well attended and celebrated to the fullest!
President Obama on his relationship with the U.S. Chamber during his speech there on February 7, 2011.
Easterday Construction was happy to help with the preliminary planning and estimating for Destiny’s project. We have offered to contribute some additional overstock materials as well if they will help. We want to wish the other volunteers the best as they embark on this project. We also sincerely hope that Destiny gets her wish and enjoys it immensely!