Shelton confirms northwest side neighborhood rehab

Feb. 13--Owensboro's Community Development Department will recommend to elected leaders later this year northwestern portions of the city between Ewing Road and Orchard Street for the next neighborhood revitalization strategy area, officials at City Hall confirmed Tuesday night.

Either as a part of that federal block grant investment program or as a separate project altogether, Community Development Director Abby Shelton says the city is now poised to make good on its nearly decade-old promise to replace the Senior Community Center of Owensboro-Daviess County.

The proposed 2020-25 Consolidated Plan will outline a Northwest Neighborhood Revitalization Strategy Area wherein, Shelton said the city will either give or sell a developer the 4-acre plot of land it owns on West Second Street that is currently home to the senior center, formerly known as the Munday Activity Center. Under the terms of that exchange, the city will hold that developer to a plan that will retrofit the 83-year-old building into low-income senior housing and build in its lawn a new senior community center.

That center is expected to be a keystone in the neighborhood development program.

"I want it to be a community building," Shelton said. "I don't want it to be it locked into only offering senior services. In that section of town, there is a lack of different services available. There's a lack of grocery stores and fresh markets. There are little mom and pop shops there, but I think if we can support that backbone a little bit better than that area will grow up. It will not only be landlocked to that footprint, but there are several buildings around that area that could be utilized for maybe a barbershop or whatever the senior citizen center wants to do. I've encouraged them to look for partnerships in the community to help make it a focal point of community development."

Owensboro's Triplett Twist strategy area, which incorporates portions of the city east of Frederica Street, is operating under a consolidated plan that is set to expire in October of this year. The city had identified a plan to demolish Gabe's Tower as the centerpiece achievement for that program around which more development would spur. A third-party developer snagged the property before the city could purchase Gabes, however, which has since locked leaders in an ongoing legal battle with no clear end in sight.

Shelton said she doesn't envision a similar outcome in the Northwest strategy area. For one thing, the city owns the Munday Center property and can choose a developer with whom it wishes to negotiate. Plus, building a new senior center has been a long, sought-after goal. The energy to see it come to fruition is there, she said.

"It's going to happen one way or another, but it's going to have to take shape as we go along," Shelton said. "We want to guide (the senior center board) and make sure they feel comfortable with what's going on. We do own the property, but the more brains we have at the table is better."

That's music to Dana Peveler's ears. Peveler is executive director at the senior community center, and she has actively lobbied the commission for new space since she took that job in 2014.

But the center's need for a new building goes back nearly 12 years, she said, as the region's senior citizen population grew exponentially and utility costs in the old schoolhouse grew just as fast.

"It's hope," Peveler said, describing the plan. "It's hope that we'll be able to realize the future. I can't even express how many emotions have been tied to the prospect of a new facility. For so many seniors, this is just a dream come true, because I can't tell you how many of them have said, 'I sure hope I live long enough to see it.' This plan that's taking shape -- it's so exciting. It's so overwhelming.

She said she is excited to use a new space as a center for all, not just senior citizens. Already, she said, her staff have begun to develop multigenerational curricula that could appeal to younger generations. She envisions a cohesive center, she said, in which people of all ages and from all walks of life can learn from and enjoy each other.

That's particularly important to the city, officials say, as they generate a plan to put the center back on the tax rolls, especially around several public housing facilities already in place.

In fact, Shelton said, identifying the northwest portion of Owensboro for local incentives was an easy decision because most of that area is already occupied by federal tax investment footprints called Opportunity Zones.

By coupling the historic building and Opportunity Zone tax credits with local block grant funds, it shouldn't be hard to find a developer who is interested in making the city's vision a reality.

A request for qualifications on that project will be issued later this year.

Other projects that will likely be sought in the Northwest Neighborhood Revitalization Strategy Area include existing homeowner exterior rehabilitation and the demolition of blighted and abandoned properties. By working with the city's Public Works Department, Shelton said, she hopes to work with property owners to give the city's northwesternmost area a much-needed facelift.

All of these projects will require city commission approval. They will be presented in Shelton's consolidated plan later this year.

Austin Ramsey, 270-691-7302, aramsey@messenger-inquirer.com, Twitter: @austinrramsey

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