Brought to you by WBIW News and Network Indiana
Last updated on Wednesday, October 24, 2012
(PAOLI) - Paoli business owners will soon be able to apply for money to improve their downtown facades.
Through its Phoenix on the Square construction project, Hoosier Uplands is involved in revitalizing the southwest side of the square in the wake of a devastating fire that occurred in November 2010. A new building, expected to be complete in early November, will consist of four commercial spaces and 12 apartments.
David Miller, chief executive officer of Hoosier Uplands, says a major step toward revitalizing the square was achieved when the Orange County Development Commission granted Hoosier Uplands $200,000 for downtown facade improvements. Those funds were added to $2,500 already committed to the town by Hoosier Upland along with all administrative expenses.
"With the debris cleanup, demolition of the old Bargain Center (across the highway and west of the fire location), construction of the Phoenix building and now the facade improvement program, we will have put about $3.4 million into downtown Paoli and provided a lot of work for the local economy," Miller said.
The 2010 fire consumed the southernmost corner of the square's buildings that faced east. Among the buildings destroyed was one that housed the Orange County Bank (now Old National Bank) from the 1880s until February 2010. Twelve apartments, the Paoli Chamber of Commerce office and the Jackson Hewitt Tax Service office also were destroyed. The Orange County office of the Indiana Department of Child Services also was displaced by the fire.
Hoosier Uplands acquired the space where the fire had struck from the previous owner, Kaiser Development.
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