Tag:Easterday Construction
LaPaz Commons Ribbon Cutting
On Thursday, May 23rd, we had the Ribbon Cutting for Riverside Commons Apartments in Plymouth and LaPaz Commons Apartments in LaPaz. This project resulted from Marshall County Crossroads‘ Stellar Designation.
In LaPaz, Matthew Celmer spoke on behalf of the Crossroads committee. Gary Neidig spoke on behalf of One Marshall County, the new reiteration of Crossroads. Roger Ecker, LaPaz Town Council President, spoke on behalf of the Town of LaPaz. Alan Rakowski, Director of Real Estate Acquisition, for IHCDA spoke as well. It was also nice to see Council member, Ryan Young; Clerk Treasurer, Jenn Gilmer; Former Clerk Treasurer, Lorraine Dove; and some of the town employees there as well. All of them praised the new development and the what it would do for the Town of LaPaz. (Marty Oosterbaan was there as a former Crossroads’ leader. He was also responsible for a lot of help in pulling the Ribbon Cutting together.) Thanks also to Easterday Construction Co., Inc. Project Superintendent, Bob Cooper, and Office Manager, Julie Heise for their help throughout the project and at the Ribbon Cutting. Thank you to Gavin Greer for his coverage in the Pilot News on May 29th.
When we have a project like this, I try and attend all of the local town council meetings. I hit most of them and the council made me a standing agenda item. My time there helped me understand the struggles LaPaz is going through and the good people that are involved in the town’s government, contributing their efforts. This made it all the more significant that LaPaz stepped up to help make this project happen, understanding their tight budget. LaPaz punched above their weight, providing more assistance than we received for Riverside Commons in Plymouth and for The Paddocks in Culver.
The LaPaz Council helped find a suitable site and made initial contacts with the owner. They also obtained an appraisal for the property.
The site required a variance. LaPaz Council President, Roger Ecker, appeared with us before the Marshall County BZA and spoke in favor of the variance request. (That was a late night and much appreciated!)
Troyer Street was not much more than a cow path before this project. The town provided and installed stone where the “street” had become a mud hole. Later, the town was able to grade and stone the remainder of the street in-house and then applied for Community Crossings funds to pave it and provide storm water infrastructure. This didn’t just benefit LaPaz Commons, but since these improvements, there has been steady traffic from the other apartments to the east. This was a great improvement for LaPaz.
LaPaz also waived tap fees for the sewer hook-up. A small thing, but helpful to project costs.
And as a final gesture of support, the LaPaz Council provided a picnic lunch at the Ribbon Cutting. That was a touching gesture!
LaPaz and Plymouth were the only communities that stepped up to the challenge for this project. We approached Argos, Bremen and Bourbon (Culver was not eligible), but they either did not have a site available or wanted terms that didn’t fit the IHCDA application. It took courage and a lot of effort for LaPaz to do this and they should be commended. As Alan Rakowski from IHCDA stated in his speech, including LaPaz strengthened the overall application and probably made the difference in it being awarded. I also think that including these projects made a difference in Marshall County Crossroads receiving the Stellar designation and all the ancillary that came from that.
LaPaz Commons is an eight unit townhome project. There are 6 townhouse units and two ADA accessible flats. All of the units are ADA visitable. Before we were even done with construction, there were 10 applications for the units and at the Ribbon Cutting, there were four units filled. This is the first new housing in LaPaz since we did the LaPaz Garden Court senior housing in 2010.
LaPaz has suffered with the Highway 31 bypass literally bypassing them. They are working hard to keep their community thriving, using the limited resources which they have. We are happy that we could make a dent in this and provide some much needed housing. Fingers crossed that this helps kickstart some other positive additions for LaPaz!
Riverside Commons Apartments Ribbon Cutting
Riverside Commons Apartments is a scattered site RHTC project. There are 40 units in Plymouth, Riverside commons, at 981 Richter Road (NW corner of Richter Rd and Baker St.) and 8 units in LaPaz, LaPaz Commons at 67 Troyer Street (SE corner of Michigan Rd and Troyer St.).
Impact Investing – READI 2.0
I attended the introductory meeting on READI 2.0 presented by South Bend – Elkhart Regional Partnership (SEBERP) at the Rees Theater yesterday. Honestly, attendance was pretty poor, but there was some good information. READI 2.0 is a refined repeat of the original READI (1.0) program which was a refined repeat of the Regional Cities Initiative. In various forms, these programs have been designed to incentivize municipal and private investment in statewide goals. As with the past programs, READI 2.0 offers the carrot of up to 20% project investment matched by 20% local government investment and 60% private investment. Whether the entire 20% is granted depends on the quality of the project, its merit for meeting goals and its ranking among other submissions.
Sand Hill Farm Apartments was awarded Regional Cities Initiative (RCI) dollars. Those funds, though only 7% of the project cost, provided some incentive to move the project forward when Culver‘s first Stellar application was unsuccessful. The project was initially to be the LIHTC portion of Culver’s Stellar application. When that wasn’t successful, the RCI funds helped make the project viable as market rate housing. Moving this project forward has been noted as instrumental in Culver’s success with their second Stellar application. Unfortunately, Culver did not follow through on their commitment, so some of those funds never were disbursed by RCI and those that were got redirected to reimbursements in lieu of benefiting the project.
Culver Sand Hill Farm was awarded READI 1.0 dollars for Water Street Townhomes. This is a mixed use building with 11 two-bedroom townhouses, 2 one-bedroom apartments and a corner commercial space. We are still working with the City of Plymouth to create the structure to put those dollars to work. SEBERP awarded less than the initial request, but Plymouth is following through with their entire match in order to make this project possible.
Culver Sand Hill Farm also submitted a townhouse project for Culver, Spirit Townhomes, which was named in the READI 1.0 Strategic Investment Plan. Unfortunately, after the fact, Culver chose to partner with a different developer on the much larger and more controversial project, The Dunes. (Discussed here.) C’est la vie! Sometimes you reap what you sow.
SBERP will be putting in an application for READI 2.0 funds for our region after the first of the year. Yesterday’s meeting was one of several where they are soliciting input on what goals of the SEBERP region fit within the stated READI 2.0 goals. This will help them refine their application. They feel confident that their track record managing the Regional Cities Initiative and READI 1.0 funds put them in a good position to receive the maximum award from READI 2.0. The handout to the right was provided at the meeting, showing some of the impact these investments have had. $878 Million in project investment through those two programs, which is 9.5 times the investment from the State. (See the backside of the flyer here.)
There is a rural component to READI 2.0, directing that 25% should go to rural areas. Of the three counties in SBERP (St. Joseph, Elkhart and Marshall), only Marshall County is designated at rural. That doesn’t mean that Marshall County doesn’t have to have competitive projects, but it gives a 25% set-aside leg up. L:ast time, READI 1.0 projects were rewarded on population, which put Marshall County at a disadvantage.
One of the interesting changes in the program is the option for receiving a loan in lieu of a grant from the program. The funds could be loaned out at a reduced interest rate, with the funds paid back to SBERP for future reinvestment in the region. While the concept is a good one, the implementation appears to be flawed, from my perspective. As it currently stands, the loan would be capped at the same 20% level as the grants. While both a grant and a loan could be awarded, they cannot total more than 20% of the project. I will need to hear more about this, but my initial impression is that there is not much incentive to take the loan in lieu of the grant, but I may be missing nuances here. It would make some sense to see loan amounts allowed to be larger percentages since the money will be recirculated. Then there would be more incentive to take that option.
An interesting sidebar – not only did I sit with Linda Yoder, Executive Director of the Marshall County Community Foundation (MCCF), at the READI 2.0 meeting, I also followed that up with an MCCF meeting at her office to hear from MCCF’s financial advisor on impact investing options for the newly formed Roger Umbaugh Local Impact Investing fund. (More on this in a future post.)
Impact Investing seems to be a great way to influence desired outcomes. Great projects that are good for the community often flounder because the investor ROI isn’t there. If Impact Investing can influence that through grants, loans and other creative means, then it benefits everyone.
I don’t yet know if or how Easterday Construction Co., Inc. (ECC) or Culver Sand Hill Farm LLC (SHF) will participate in READI 2.0. The experience with READI 1.0 hasn’t been bad, but there have been a lot of strings attached to it after the award that weren’t factored into the original project. I’ve been approached about several projects that would fit under the READI 2.0 umbrella. I’ll continue to monitor this and continue to be part of the discussion. Whether ECC or SHF participate or not, it seems that it’s another great opportunity for Marshall County and Marshall County communities.
Changing School Images
I think I have written on this before (when the middle school gym was built), but my search capabilities weren’t sufficient to find the previous post. This is dating myself and includes some historic ramblings, so here we go…
I didn’t see any promotional material on the changes for the Culver Community School buildings this summer, so seeing the glass block come down and seeing it replaced with new black smoked glass was a bit of a surprise. I was also a bit amused by the progression.
Forgive me for doing this extemporaneously without doing the research, but it’s not something that I felt mattered beyond my memory.
The elementary school was built before air conditioning and was built with windows that opened across the bottom, about 4′ above the floor, and glass block above those windows reaching up 10′, letting in light for the high ceiling classrooms. Google failed me on finding good images of this, but I found the images to the right and below on the Maxinkuckee History Past Tracker page showing pictures of the school from the 1952 as the new elementary school addition was first opened.
The glass block isn’t very clear in this picture, but there was another interior picture on that page that showed the glass block a bit clearer. I’ve included that one to the left. I don’t have pictures from Easterday Construction’s history at the school, but I know we did the north addition and struggled to match the glass block, brick and windows, as the Architect wanted continuity.
The progression of the remodels has always amused me. The construction of the middle school gym was completed at the same time or just before the remodeling of the elementary school in the early 2000’s. Two different architecture firms were employed. It would appear they didn’t talk…
Knowing how Architects often think, I’ve always postulated the following: The middle school Architect knew that splitting the elementary school and middle school was a big change. (There was lots of controversy moving the middle school from being attached to the elementary school to attaching it to the high school.) He wanted to tie the new gym construction to the high school to which it was being attached. Similar brick and metal banding was used to accomplish this. But to ease the transition and keep continuity for the children moving from the elementary school building to the middle school building, the glass block “theme” was used, even though use of glass block was somewhat dated at the time. The gym include a glass block clerestory and some other glass block accents. Meanwhile, working within his own silo, the elementary school Architect wanted to update the building look and knowing that glass block is notoriously bad for insulation and weathertightness over time, replaced the block with colored metal panels! Hahahahaha! He also changed the entrance to create a simulated nautical theme (think masts).
The remodel of the elementary school received a lot of hate. The new panels with the “rolling” accent lines deemed playful by the Architect were deemed gaudy by the community. (Picture to the left from the Culver Visitors Guide.) My Mother, Jackye Berger, was on the school board at the time and was somewhat incensed by the difference between what was approved and what was installed. The presentation to the school board was done using a full façade picture ( a long horizontally and short vertically picture of the entire east side of the building) with colored pencil (pastel) colors rather than the bright and shiny panels that were installed. The Architect later admitted that was intentional as they knew the bright panels wouldn’t get approved… As these things go, the Architect for the Culver Union Township Library addition then decided to carry the nautical theme and create a sail effect… which has since been removed/modified due to multiple issues…
So now we’re in a new era. The elementary school panels have been repainted in earth tones (very nice) and the glass block is going away at the middle school. Since I haven’t seen the plans, I don’t know if all of the glass block is going away, but it appears they are saving the vertical bands at the corners. Future generations will wonder why it’s there and a future school board will undoubtedly change that too.
40 Years with ABC
October 2, 2023
Kevin Berger
Commentary, Politics
Community, Easterday Construction, government, Volunteering
This month marks 40 years since Easterday Construction Co., Inc. (ECC) joined Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC). I’ve written about this before, and our continuation with ABC has been for the same reasons. In recent years, our chapter, ABC of Indiana, has become ABC of Indiana/Kentucky. Despite some continuing concerns, this has mostly been a good combination.
Our main reason for continuing with ABC is the the voice it has in the Statehouse. That’s not to say we don’t take advantage of other membership options. We currently have an employee in their NLRB approved Carpentry Apprenticeship program and we yearly document our safety through their STEP program. We have also participated in their Excellence in Construction program, winning awards for our work on the Charlie Creek Inn, Dr. James Ford Historic Home and the St. Mary of the Lake renovation. We have a representative on the Chapter Board.
While ECC hold memberships with several Chambers of Commerce, NFIB and other groups, ABC is the only business group that caters specifically to the Merit Shop construction industry. We’re proud to be ABC members and support their work while they support our work.
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