Plymouth Common Council supports READI 2.0 applications projects in city

Monday evening members of the Plymouth City Council were asked for support for two multi-million-dollar READI 2.0 projects.

Marshall County is part of the Northern Indiana Regional Development Authority which received $45 million for READI 2.0 grant funding. Approved projects can receive up to 20% of the cost with a public match of 20% and private funds of 60%. 

The first project presented to the city council was the former Montgomery Ward building at 214 North Michigan Street in downtown Plymouth.  The proposal is a full renovation from top to bottom, all 4 floors creating a regional art hub. 

The renovation would include additional art classrooms, workshop studios, and a student art gallery in the basement.  The first floor would feature gallery space, a sensory room, an audio-visual studio, and a coffee bar and gift shop.  On the second floor, there would be an area for traveling exhibits, along with a good-sized exhibition and event space and an artist-in-residence apartment. The mezzanine level could be home to the Marshall County Economic Development Corporation with a section of E-hub incubator workstations along with the A/V Control room and a quiet lounge. 

The total estimated cost of this renovation project is $8,239,100. Heartland Artists are applying for a $2.1 million READI 2.0 grant and would need $1,905,000 from public funds along with $6,334,100 of private donations and in-kind services. 

The second READI 2.0 project seeking support from the City of Plymouth is 2 housing development projects. The first proposal is at the corner of Liberty Street and Pennsylvania Avenue and would be known as Liberty Village.   This development would feature 9 single-family homes, 24 units of 2-bedroom duplexes, and a 24-unit multi-family housing building on the west side of Liberty Street along with a mixed-use building of commercial space and apartments at the southeast corner of Pennsylvania and Liberty.   

The second residential development would be known as Suseland Creek Homes.  The first phase of development would be 15 single-family lots along the east side of Angle Street and then 25 lots with single-family homes on the east side of Bayless where Garden Courts had proposed the multi-family development behind Webster School.

The housing developments are estimated at $31,160,400 with an application for a READI 2.0 grant in the amount of $5,347,925 and an equal amount of public match along with $20,971.250 of private contributions.      

The total city request for funds for the Heartland Art Center renovations project and the two Housing Developments is just over $7.2 million. The city contribution could be but has not been defined as Redevelopment Commission funds, capital improvement budgets such as water and sewer upgrades, and street paving could be included in the city’s match, in-kind services could include the city engineer’s time on the project, or future budget appropriations can all be included in matching support.

Jeff Houin, the Plymouth City Attorney explained that all the residential units would be “market rate” with no subsidized rental units.  If the projects are awarded READI 2.0 funds, the city would begin determining how their match would be funded.

The READI 2.0 application is due August 30 and members of the City Council unanimously supported the READI 2.0 project in a resolution.

concept home for Suseland Creed Homes development