December 1st, 2008 By Justin Williams
More Downtown Renovations Underway
Now that I live in the heart of downtown Evansville I’ve been taking notice of what’s been going on as part of the whole revitalization effort. The old McCurdy building has finally sold, which means the old folks are getting the boot in favor of 90 high end condos. It’s a beautiful building outside, so I’m looking forward to seeing what they do to the inside.
At the corner of Third and Main is the old Washington House/Farmer’s Daughter which is going up for auction on December 30. The Courier has a great article that covers the history of the building from its days as a hotel, cigar store, restaurant and radio studio.
In terms of commercial happenings downtown, it looks like we are getting a La Sombre coffee shop. From what I gather online, it’s a locally owned place with their other shop being in downtown Newburgh. Anyone have any other info?
It’s exciting to see the revitalization happening and I hope it’s not just a flash in the pan. Now, can some restaurants be open on Sunday please?
photo courtesy of Andy Guagenti via Courier & Press
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my mom was a waitress at the farmer’s daughter in the 60s.
I own a small martial arts school (Community Martial Arts) in the downtown area. I am glad to see that there are positive changes happening. The streets are getting cleaner and it seems that there are more people interested in buying homes in this area and improving them.
I just purchased another big home on Washington that I am renovating because of all this change. Maybe whoever buys this property will do something good and get more business downtown!
..main st parking..
i went downtown to get an eye exam the other day (putting my dollars locally), and while i was sitting in the office i was thinking about the logistics of two-way traffic on main street.
unless parking is eliminated or the street is reconstructed between 2nd and mlk, i just don’t think it’s possible. if you take away the parking.. where’s everyone going to park to patronize these businesses that are setting up shop downtown? and addressing the point of reconstruction of main street.. does the city have the money?
..more condos..
also, and more importantly, why focus on high-end apartments and condos? shouldn’t there also be greater, if not equal number of slightly above market rate apartments and condos.
i am not bashing evansville, but this is not a city of high-end things. this is a city of quality and one with moderate value, with a very low cost of living. those qualities make evansville an attractive place to relocate, and less likely to be affected by the great up’s and down’s of the current eceonomy.
Evansville’s condo market and parking have nothing to do with it being “high end.” There are people that are willing to dish out the money for the “high end” of Evansville.
And there are plenty of parking garage’s. You can’t drive around milwakee or chicago, or the STL (where I am now) and get good parking. A little walking would help Evansville……
There are two parking garages along Locust Street, Old National’s, 5/3’s and then the old Old National bank building as well. I feel 0 sympathy for people that complain they can’t easily park on Main St.
i’m not trying to connect high-end condos, apartments and parking to evansville being high end. i was just saying that some new market rate units should be constructed. so that people like me could afford to live in nice apartments downtown. (affordable=$0.80-1.00/sqft/month) i am just not a fan of living in an old house.. just not my style.
but, i do believe that lacking direct on-street parking could hurt the continuous improvement of downtown evansville. in time, ideas like removing selected spots to alter curb lines to make sidewalks more pedestrian friendly would be good. i was just commenting on some things i have read (not from here) about how someone wanted to make a curb cut on riverside to allow for traffic from riverside to main.. or convert main back to two-way traffic.
i’ve only been back in town for 3 months after being gone for 5 or 6 years. but the downtown transformation is amazing. i’m a huge fan of the idea of the new downtown stadium. i am like you justin, where i know this city has ample downtown parking. i lived in indianapolis for many years, and a plethora of cheap parking is just one of many things that makes it great! the district is amazingly better than the parking lot it once was and the removal of the parking lot that the new old national building occupies is fantastic! removing parking lots is important.
but, back onto the OP..
i hope that whomever wins this auction could work to restore the facades. it’s sad to see the C&P photo from the 70’s when they covered it all up in an effort to be trendy. maybe they could reopen a restaurant here and call it the farmers granddaughter!
The old house thing isn’t my style, but I think the condos are like new technology. They are targeted at the high end first and then it trickles down.
no, I agree, these high end condos that cost a fortune and a half just dont cut it in evansville–yes by all means, I support nice condos or apartments that tailor to a certain group of people, but at the price they want, no one is willing to consider them! Half of them just sit vacant or uncompleted because no one can afford to spend that much, I mean, its Evansville not NYC or LA, and now we are officially (guess we weren’t officially before) in a economic recession!
i agree with you about the trickle down.. it’s not going to happen over night..
justin.. did you see in the C&P that the site decision for the new stadium should be made by mid december..
@Justin: You have never lived in an old house!!
Exactly. I’m a spoiled son of a homebuilder.
La Sombre imports their coffee beans and roasts them at the shop in Newburgh. They have the best espresso around here, in my opinion. Hopefully their hours will be a little better than the Newburgh shop, which closes at 5 on the weekdays.
more condos? “Old folks” getting “the boot”? Can’t risk using any empathy, can we? How I wish that for once, just for ONCE, “revitalization” didn’t seem to have to come at the expense of people who have lived in an area for years getting booted out for the greed of real estate prospectors. Prospectors whose ilk, unless I’ve been reading the news wrong lately, were in no small part responsible for this HUGE economic crisis our nation is currently embroiled in.
Yes, I like downtown and I want to see it improved as well as anyone. I don’t see how jacking up the cost of living and recreation to a point where the majority of locals can’t afford any of it equals improvement. One of the things I kind of like about Evansville is that there seems to be less egregious stratification and snobbery than in many other cities I could name. Treating our city as if only the very richest in it (or imported to it) matter may lead to some pretty cosmetic changes, but the overall effect can be nothing but detrimental.
..stadium..
the recommended site is one of the two d-patrick ford locations. either eliminating the salesroom and the executive inn, or eliminating their two blocks of car lots.
i’m sure, eventually, there will be a post here. but, for now can we keep it constructive.. and not like courierpress.com?
Here’s the D-Patrick news: http://www.itsevansville.com/2008/12/09/whats-in-your-driveway-a-stadium/