Earlier this month Bill Hollingsworth, an Affordable Housing Developer, made a presentation to some of the key leaders involved in Culver’s Entry Level Housing Task Force. The presentation was a combination of education for the Task Force members as well as an introduction to his company and the work he has completed in this arena. He is currently working on a building rehabilitation project for an artist enclave which he was able to fit under the Affordable Housing umbrella.
As part of his presentation, he included some pictures of a new construction Affordable Housing project. I thought I would share those pictures here. The Affordable Housing moniker has some negative connotations. This helped dispel that concern with the task force.
The Sand Hill Farm property is under consideration for this project. It would require a PUD zoning in order to complete a project similar to what is shown here, but I think it would be a welcome addition to Culver’s housing stock. At this point Mr. Holllingsworth has made an initial contact and has shown interest in pursuing this project. The task force is hoping to leverage this into additional market based housing as well.
Charley Creek Inn – Proposed Expansion
I just returned from Wabash where I made a presentation to obtain a “Certificate of Appropriateness“. This was required before I could obtain a Demolition Permit necessary to remove a deteriorating old building. I was required to submit floor plans, elevations and a perspective rendering of the proposed new construction. How ironic that on the way back to the office I listened to a NPR piece on Houston, Texas where they don’t even have Zoning!
There have been several status changes to Sand Hill Farm this Spring. The first was the retirement of the County drainage easement through the property. It was replaced by a new easement to the Town of Culver. This was part of the agreement with the Town that saw the relocation of the storm drain from running diagonally across the property to a new location along the property line. This also included removal of a large area of brush and scrub trees which generally improved the property. The second was the inclusion of Sand Hill Farm in the talks regarding Entry Level Housing for Culver. I have served on Culver’s Task Force looking into this issue and helped with the Request For Proposals (RFP) that went out to developers earlier this month. I have been contacted by one developer who has shown interest. We shall see how it proceeds from here. The goal of the RFP is to explore opportunities to obtain an Affordable Housing project that can be parlayed into additional market rate housing through an additional portion of the property.
Easterday Construction enjoyed a long friendship with our client Richard Ford. We completed many interesting projects for him such as the Dr. James Ford Historic Home. We also completed most of the renovation work at his properties in Wabash and Culver. Richard’s passing was a great loss for us and the communities that he called home.
At the time of his death we were working with Richard on expansion plans for the Charley Creek Inn, in Wabash. We’re pleased to have been engaged to continue Richard’s legacy work with the next generation of the Ford family. We are working hard to honor our relationship with Richard and demonstrate why he trusted us.
We are working on the preliminary design phase of the inn expansion now. This has involved the evaluation of the existing Livery Building to the south and the planning of the building to replace it. The new structure will be smaller. The two main focuses will be an expansion of the existing inn kitchen and a new outdoor courtyard space for events.
We’ll share more on this as it moves forward, but the rendering to the right, created by SRKM Architects shows what we hope to achieve for a new streetscape.