Condo development presses on as city says parking deadline met

MUNCIE, Ind. − Taking Delaware County's old jail and court complex and turning it into luxury condominiums − with additional parking for City Hall employees − has been labor intensive and time consuming.

Ten million pounds of debris − 5,000 tons − were hauled away from the brutish red brick building in the past year as part of its transfiguration from a secure lockup into contemporary and comfortable high-end dwellings, said Michael Jennings, a developer, workman, brother and son in the family steering the downtown project.

Even the non load-bearing walls inside the old Justice Center were filled with concrete and rebar, he said.

Last week Michael Jennings and his partner/brother Matthew Jennings provided a tour of the structure moving out of demolition stage and deeper into its creation phase.

Justice Parking and Condominiums, LLC, is the company they formed with their father, David, to take on this project in October 2021. They were also the people who took the aging former First Christian Church on East North Street and turned it into what has consistently been praised as a beautiful structure now functioning as the North Church Venue. That building was purchased in 2018 and was finished before the end of 2020.

It's still hard to fathom beautiful homes inside the old justice center while all is in progress. Three floors of settled concrete dust rests on everything, power tools lie scattered about, wood framing is cornering off new spaces throughout while fast food wrappers pile up where the brothers and other workers have regularly toiled, often seven-days-a-week for a year or more.

It will probably be another 10 to 11 months before the 14 planned apartments are ready, said Matt Jennings.

The building gets a completely new heating and air conditioning system. Massive vents were removed to make way for the new system. Each of the condos are distinct. The square footage ranges from 6,399-square feet to 1,343 square feet.

Being creative about it all, which is perhaps the most distinct aspect of this construction project, can slow the process. Doing it following a pandemic that continues to keep supply chains bollixed up just adds to the delay.

Already visible from its new windows are remarkable views of the city, including the Patterson Building and downtown Walnut Street to the south. Looking north, White River and the traffic on High Street comprise another attractive view. In the northwest corner of the building, where a cafeteria once fed inmates and where David Jennings plans to live someday, the ceiling soars 26 feet above the floor.

There is nothing else like it in Muncie. But, of course, it's not done in Muncie yet.

Mayor Dan Ridenour said he never thought the apartments would be ready by Jan. 31, 2023, the date that the economic development agreement had pegged for project completion. Anyone who has been involved with construction projects knows they often things happen and they take longer than expected, he said. The real issue for city was getting the parking spaces, not the apartments.

The agreement has penalties for not having the parking lots ready, with no penalties for not having apartments done.

"In the event the company fails to complete the parking spaces segment of the project by the completion date, after taking into account permitted delays, if any, the company shall pay the city, as liquidated damages, the sum pf $10,000 for each month of fractional part thereof that the project is not needed," the agreement states.

Permitted delays include the unavailability of labor or materials, which Matt Jennings indicated had been a factor in the construction effort.

The agreement says the developers were to provide up to 17 condominiums and 148 parking spaces. To this point Matt Jennings said the company has 20 parking spaces available for the city to use as of the deadline of Jan. 31.

Ridenour said he asked employees who wanted a parking space at the site, which is across the street, and 18 came forward and are parking there now. The spaces are all outside under the cover of ramps and overhangs at the site.

Matt Jennings said that parking inside on the first floor and in the basement, as planned, won't be practical now during construction due to dust caused by the work. Eventually, when construction is done, some tenants will be able to park outside their apartment door, he said.

Ridenour said parking is a real issue for the city, with some employees having to park blocks away from city hall.

The mayor said that he is going to enforce parking at City Hall, which means employees won't be allowed to park in spaces set aside for the public.

Once the parking construction is done, the city agreed to enter lease agreements for the parking spaces at an annual rental fee of $11,700 for 30 years for basement parking spots. The first-floor parking was to be leased to the city for 15 years at an annual rate of $30,888.

The economic development agreement for the condominium project included the city providing $600,000 in infrastructure grants out of Economic Development Income Tax money. At the start, $300,000 was provided the project. Another $200,000 was to be disbursed when the basement and first floor parking facilities were half done. The final $100,000 was to be paid out when the basement and first floor parking facilities done.

But Matt Jennings and Ridenour both said they believed the entire $600,000 had already been distributed to the project. Indiana Title Insurance Company was holding the money for distribution to the developers, the mayor said.

Additionally, the city agreed in the economic development agreement to pay for the utilities at the site until the completion date of Jan. 31, 2023. Through December 2022, the city had paid more than $47,000 to provide utilities to the construction site. Ridenour said the city still has to pay for the utility bills for January. The utilities were placed in the developer's name as of Feb 1.

"It's still the best option," Ridenour said of the condominium project. Among the other choices was demolishing the structure, which takes up a city block, and creating surface parking at the site. Demolition alone would have cost $600,000. The condominium project is now on the property tax rolls.

According to the October 2021 agreement with the city, the developers agreed to invest up to $4.05 million in the project. At the time the condominiums were announced, it was described as a $3.4 million project. Michael Jennings said the smaller number was the planned budget figure, and Matt Jennings said, in spite of inflation, the development is still running closer to $3.4 million.

Much of the more expensive aspects of the development still lie ahead, he said, such as buying appliances for the apartments.

Michael Jennings said he is not discussing the rent that will be charged yet, given how quickly the market has changed in recent months and might change again.

David Jennings told the Star Press in December that investors were providing the funding and no bank financing was involved at that time. Since then, First Merchants Bank has come on board to support the project with some financing. Michael Jennings declined to say how much bank financing was involved.

It is a different construction project than most. Huge doors that once provided entry to a courtroom now hang in an apartment. Wood, taken from the roof of a downtown building recently razed is being integrated into the work inside the apartments. The stainless steel from a walk-in cooler and freezer will remain as an artful aspect to one apartment. Each dwelling will have its own personality, the Jennings brothers said.

Many of the creative features of the North Church Venue are being applied to the condominiums. One of the artists who helped with the Jennings's previous project, welder Caitlin Torres, is doing metal work at the condominiums.

People rave about the metal work at North Church, Michael Jennings said. "Much of that work was her."

Torres said that being allowed to be creative in the architecture work was a joy.

Ridenour said that this building project was unique in its nature and he is looking forward to seeing what the Jennings family does with the old justice center.

"It's really an art project," the mayor said.

This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Condo development presses on as city says parking deadline met