Plymouth residents got a closer look Tuesday at the planned South Gateway apartment development. It’s one of the local projects being undertaken as part of the Regional Cities Initiative. If you are curious about authors opinion, her comment is here in this article.
Developer and architect Scott Sivan said the goal is to attract new residents to Downtown Plymouth. “All the trends in the United States today say that the suburbs are receding,” he said. “People are moving to downtowns, not only millennials but empty-nesters. And it’s interesting that they share a kind of interest that actually puts them in the same cluster of buildings.”
Sivan and others working on the project gave a presentation to a packed room at the old NIPSCO Building, just across the Yellow River from the proposed development.
It will include a total of 39 units spread across three buildings to be constructed along the south bank of the river, east of Michigan Street. Sivan said the middle of the two buildings will be slightly smaller, containing only nine units. That will allow for the possibility for those units to be sold as condominiums, rather than rented.
The inclusion of condominiums was one of a few adjustments Sivan considered, after meeting with various groups of residents. Another suggestion was additional parking. In addition to a parking lot, each building will contain indoor parking on the first floor.
That results in a blank wall facing the Michigan Street sidewalk, in a project designed to help revitalize Downtown Plymouth. Sivan said he considered adding retail to the first floor, but ultimately decided against it. “Our point here is to bring people to animate these storefronts, the ones that already exist,” he said. “So creating density in downtown is the first step to creating business in downtown. Businesses don’t come before people come. People come first.”
Sivan said it’s too early to determine the exact rental price for the apartments. But he said a similar development he recently completed in Mishawaka has attracted residents with an average household income of $44,000.
The South Gateway project is set to get contributions from the City of Plymouth adding up to about $1.8 million, according to City Attorney Sean Surrisi. The Plymouth Common Council also expects a tax abatement to be requested. Another $1.4 million will come from the Regional Cities Initiative. Sivan would also be responsible for a large investment.
The use of city funding prompted one resident to question whether lower-income residents will be, in effect, subsidizing wealthier ones. Surrisi and other organizers said the money should be considered an investment to attract new residents to share the tax burden. “If we don’t do something to bring new folks to the table to keep contributing to that tax base, the future starts to look bleak for the school system and maintaining the roads and things like that,” Surrisi said.
Due to the use of Regional Cities funds, the project will have to break ground by June, 2017 and would take 15 to 16 months to complete.
