The building in 2006.
The Green Mouse has been told that developer Matt Chalfant will purchase the New Albany Inn building on the corner of Market and Bank, and render the upper two floors into upscale apartments. The same source said that Chalfant wishes for Habana Blues to remain the ground floor restaurant tenant.
In the same streetside conversation, the Green Mouse also was informed of the possibility of an organic grocer occupying the Antique Mall at 128 West Main Street.
Conceding that this is the rumorama, and verification remains elusive, the Chalfant story is of interest owing to recent hijinks with Farmers Market expansion funding. At least one sitting council member says he has no recollection of the inclusion of $275K in the 2014 budget for a Farmers Market buildout.
Now it's 2013. Last week, while at the Board of Public Works meeting, it was revealed that $275,000 toward the Farmers Market work now appears in the 2014 council budget. At-large council member Shirley Baird and city suburban economic development director David Duggins delightfully reprised Astaire and Rogers as Public Works was informed that the usual architectural design suspects would resume work, and the expansion would be finished in time for the market's 2014 opening.
As for how the unmarked bills were earmarked for expenditure, the Green Mouse recently overheard CM Baird commenting that she'd at long last devised a way to evade scrutiny from the council upon which she serves. She may have been joking ... or we may now see why she says hardly anything during the public portion of her job.
The Chalfant rumor places an appropriate spotlight on the future of the city's Farmers Market property. Isn't it true that if even one or two surrounding buildings on three corners are renovated, particularly if renovations are living space, the value of the city's property where the Farmers Market currently operates stands to rise? If so, why surrender potentially valuable infill construction space with a seasonal market, which could be shifted elsewhere as part of a larger forward-moving downtown ... plan ... oh, wait.
I forgot. There is no plan pat from the absence of a plan.
Never mind.
No comments:
Post a Comment