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Developer getting city dollars to redevelop former hospital site

The redevelopment of the Home Hospital site in Lafayette is getting some financial assistance from the city. Mainstreet Property Groupwill receive $800,000 in tax increment financing districtfunds over four years.

In essence, some of that funding will come from the developer’s own tax liability. A 65,000 square foot senior living facility will go up where the old hospital once stood.

Mainstreet Director of Development Doug Pedersen says Lafayette’s investment will cover site changes city staff requested.

“We put a lot of money into trail connection, detention basins and architecture, also the redevelopment cost of the property,” he says. “So, the cost of the project is excessive and this (funding) will be a great help in helping this become a reality.”

Lafayette Mayor Tony Roswarski says Mainstreet flipped the layout of the building, so it faces South Street and Columbian Park.

“They have been a great partner and I have not heard one negative thing about their proposal from any of the neighbors,” he says.

The city hosted meetings with Mainstreet and residents of the Columbian Park neighborhood. Roswarski says there were certain things people did not want to see, such as a large apartment building.

Pedersen says the facility will have an economic impact of more than $100 million in its first ten years and employ at least 100 people. It includes 70 beds for skilled nursing, for those who need more time recovering from surgery, and 30 beds for long-term, assisted living.

He says it will offer physical, occupational and speech therapy services, and have a café, salon and outdoor activities area.

“Through market studies, we study demographics in the hospital systems and everything else, and there’s a demand in this community for this service,” he says. “This [site] fits the whole package.”

Construction could begin before the end of the year with it opening sometime in early 2015. Mainstreet is in the process of buying the land from the company that is handling the demolition of the old hospital building.

While the senior living facility will take up the main 9 acres of former hospital property, Economic Development Director Dennis Carson says the other parcels nearby remain available. He says some entities have contact him about those, but there are no set plans for any of the lots.

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