During Monday night’s Housing Committee meeting, Director of Development Crystal Surdyk said that at the moment they do not have all of the details set for the application, with a regional informational meeting set for this week. Surdyk said the team will learn a little bit more there and be able to ask some questions, which will then help them determine more specific details and what the approach will be when they apply. At the moment, there are a few things that the department knows they are looking to do when it comes to the application.

“We are looking at a feasibility study for the Furniture Mart, redevelopment of that building, as well as a Pro-Housing application,” Surdyk said. “So that will help us kind of move things along in our efforts to do some specific, targeted redevelopment of our vacant lots and keep pushing forward on site prep and that sort of thing.”

A developer is set to come later in July to tour the Furniture Mart location, and Surdyk said they are still trying to find the right fit for the location. The focus for the past several years for the building has been housing and mixed use on the lower floors, though Surdyk said it’s not clear housing will be part of the building’s future.

“Maybe housing is not the right fit for that, and we need a Conference Center,” Surdyk said. “You know, is that the right fit for what the needs are for that part of the city, and where it’s located across from the Comedy Center? So, we would like to, with the state’s assistance, be able to hire a consultant to help us take a deeper dive into that.”

The Furniture Mart building is pictured. P-J file photo

Housing redevelopment projects on vacant lots are being narrowed down to areas on Fulton and Cross streets. While that could change, Surdyk said they see those two areas as needing significant redevelopment activity once all of the structures that are set to be demolished are gone.

“That will leave us with some pretty large areas for redevelopment and for infill but those neighborhoods also need some pretty serious upgrades when it comes to infrastructure so we are looking at the potential for submitting an application that would allow us to really take a more holistic approach to those neighborhoods,” Surdyk said.

By next week, after the informational meeting, Surdyk said they will have more of the details worked out and know for sure what their approach to the applications will be, with applications due in July. There is a lot more work and data to be put together to submit a successful application, she added. There is $100 million in the fund, but Surdyk said it is hard to say how competitive the applications are and that money might not spread as wide as they think. This is also the first year that this funding has existed and the first time that the city is applying, so it is yet unknown what the competition will be for it.