TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — Some big changes are coming to the downtown area of Terre Haute in the near future.
Mayor Brandon Sakbun says that demolition for the old Vigo County School Corporation building and old police station downtown have been approved. There are already plans for what comes next for these sites.
“You’re going to see multi-use buildings,” Sakbun said. “Multi-use is a term that refers to having a residential and a commercial component, or a hotel and a commercial component to it. We’re bringing an apartment complex with first floor commercial opportunities to the old police station site and we’re going to build a hotel with some commercial opportunities at the Vigo County School Corporation site.”
Vigo County Commissioner Mark Clinkenbeard says they have noticed the amount of demolitions in Terre Haute, and are trying to do the same thing countywide.
“We’ve seen the city, they’ve been tearing down a lot of blighted properties in city limits,” Clinkenbeard said. “We’ve tried to up ours also, so this morning we approved demolition bids for ten properties throughout the county. We’re excited to get those things cleaned up and looking better for the neighborhoods.”
Sakbun says that there is data to support what the new additions to the city will bring to the economy.
“These are really private sector projects,” Sakbun said. “The business community is driving this based off of their data and their numbers. Government is really just setting that ecosystem, setting those conditions to allow for that growth, and I’m happy to partner with a number of developers, really from across the state, to get more growth right here in Terre Haute, Indiana.”
The demolition company will have just under 90 days to complete both projects.
