Nonprofit and public officials Monday outlined a $5.2 million project aimed at converting a neighborhood eyesore into housing for young adults as they age out of foster care.
As The News-Sentinel previously reported, nonprofit groups Specialized Alternatives for Families and Youth (SAFY) and Stop Child Abuse and Neglect (SCAN) are teaming with local developer Kevan Biggs to convert the old Duemling Clinic, 2828 Fairfield Ave., into a 37-unit apartment complex.
City officials, including Mayor Tom Henry, and neighborhood leaders appeared at a news conference Monday to support the project, which will largely draw on state low-income housing tax credits for funding.
Biggs, owner of Ideal Suburban Homes and Biggs Property Management, said demolition of the old clinic will start in November, with construction possibly beginning by the end of the year.
Located across from the former Lutheran Hospital campus, the clinic became vacant after the hospital moved in 1992 to its current campus at Jefferson Boulevard and Interstate 69.
Fort Wayne Community Schools bought the former clinic for $800,000 in 1994, but plans to use it as a resource center never materialized. The school district sold the building to local businessman Vince Tippmann for $290,000 in 2004.
