After the recent development of luxury apartments in the River District and some income-based housing elsewhere around the city, Elkhart officials are welcoming a project downtown for middle-income residents.
Elkhart’s redevelopment commission on Tuesday picked a Carmel-based developer’s proposal to build market-rate apartments, ground-floor commercial space and a parking structure on the former county courthouse site.
City development director Mike Huber says the city needs more housing across the income spectrum, but especially the so-called “missing middle.”
That’s people earning $65,000 to $98,000 a year.
“That core $27 to $30 an hour that many of our jobs, both in the manufacturing but also in kind of that health care and education space, teachers and folks like that, who earn that wage and are struggling to find housing that is affordable at that price point,” Huber says.
Developers Barrett Realty Investments and Prince Property Group plan a $37 million project. Huber says a development agreement would likely involve the city using tax incremental financing district property tax revenue to pay for the 300-space wrap-around parking structure, at a cost of $9 to $10 million. It would be used both by apartment residents and the public. Huber says the city hopes to win state redevelopment credits that would offset some of the city’s costs.
