Forza details planned project

Members of two local boards learned more about a proposed housing complex near downtown Portland on Monday. 

Portland Redevelopment Commission and Portland Economic Development Corporation met Monday with Adam D’Angelo of Forza Commercial Real Estate and Brent Mather of R&B Architects. 

The purpose of the special meeting was to hear more about Forza’s proposal to create a 30-to-40-apartment complex on the property of the Hood Building at 309 W. Main St., Portland.  

D’Angelo explained his preliminary plan for the property and detailed some of his similar projects throughout Indiana. There is a demand for about 80 more apartments in the city, D’Angelo pointed out, and Portland is not alone in its need for more housing.

“This is a known issue throughout the country, not just here in Indiana or Indianapolis or a secondary market around Indianapolis,” D’Angelo said. “There is a significant gap in just quality housing, workforce housing specifically.” 

Forza, founded in 2015, has completed other apartment and commercial projects throughout Indiana, including Wabash, Fortville and Lapel.

Forza’s proposal for the Hood Building calls for the renovation of at least the top two floors into apartments. The Graphic Printing Company — which owns the building and The Commercial Review — would remain as a tenant in the lower floors. Another four-story building would be constructed on the property to include more apartments, and would possibly connect to the Hood Building through an elevator shaft. 

The redevelopment commission and development corporation’s involvement in the project would be to possibly collaborate on purchasing the building from The Graphic Printing Company this year. 

Forza would then work out a deal to take ownership of the property when it is ready to buy the building and begin construction. The Commercial Review would remain in the building throughout. 

In most cases, Forza has made deals directly with the owners of the building, who agree to hold the building for future development. But Jack Ronald, publisher of The Commercial Review, is considering an offer to sell the newspaper and the property to another company. 

“The owner was already open to another opportunity that wasn’t as attractive to the community but might be necessary,” Mather said. “I think that’s why we circled the wagons and tried to come up with a way that is the least amount of risk for any party, shares the risk both publicly and privately, has a couple of options for what could happen with the project, which is why the extra time.”

According to Forza’s letter of intent for the project, construction on the Hood Building could begin in 2022 or 2023. Portland Mayor Randy Geesaman posed the question of whether that timeline was negotiable.  

The reason for the long process, D’Angelo and Mather explained, is that Jay County’s municipalities are in the running for the Stellar Communities designation.

Jay! Region is one of four finalists, and the winner will be announced in December. The designation comes with tax credits for affordable housing and additional money to help with building projects, which Forza could utilize for the development, but applying for the funds and coordinating the project would take time. 

But the need for housing in Portland is high enough that the project is not dependent on Jay! receiving the Stellar designation, D’Angelo assured the group.

“We’d like to see this project proceed without it, if not awarded,” D’Angelo said. 

“Because of that demand already today, there’s not just a need for affordable but there also is a need for market rate, those that are aging in place, retaining some of those younger individuals.” 

At its last meeting, there was a question of whether the redevelopment commission would be able to participate in a residential project. But Mather explained that income-producing residential properties — such as apartment complexes — have always been allowed for tax increment financing districts, as they are businesses. 

If constructed within the next three years, the development would generate an estimated additional $70,000 a year for the two remaining years of the TIF district before it expires. 

Because of the potential buyer for the newspaper, community developer Ami Huffman and Ronald are hoping for a decision one way or another as soon as possible. Huffman proposed the project to Ronald after speaking with D’Angelo about sites for potential development in Portland. 

“I wanted to get all the questions out that we had so we could decide if this was something each group wanted to participate in,” Huffman said. “Jack is on a tight timeline. He has a willing buyer sitting there but as we’ve said before, that guarantees nothing about what our local newspaper will look like or guarantee that we could get the building to do any development in the future.” 

The redevelopment commission will meet at 7 a.m. Friday to discuss the proposal further. A meeting for Portland Economic Development Corporation is in the works for next week.