Seven homes getting total $137,00 in rehabilitation work under Stellar project

Seven homes within the South Court residential area, south of the Courthouse Square in Greencastle, will receive upgrades and rehabilitation under the $19.5 million Indiana Stellar Grant package awarded to the city in March 2011.

As part of $300,000 awarded to the city via a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) for owner-occupied rehabilitation of homes within the district, the Board of Public Works and Safety Wednesday awarded $137,988 worth of projects.

Tucker Construction, Indianapolis, was awarded the contracts on $92,511 worth of work on four qualifying homes:

-- The Skinner home, 403 E. Hanna St., $30,750.

-- The Cofer home, 1 E. Liberty St., $23,500.

-- The Rumley home, 211 W. Columbia St., $23,095.

-- The Harbison house, 126 E. Walnut St., $15,166.

Emmert Group LLC, Brazil, was awarded two projects, identical $15,166 jobs for the Campbell home, 202 W. Washington St., and the Kemp house, 412 E. Washington St., for a $30,322 total.

Tranum Insulation Inc., Indianapolis, was awarded the contract for work at the Richardson house, 207 N. College Ave., at a total of $15,145.

The projects include varying degrees of lead-based paint remediation, exterior siding, energy-related improvements, insulation upgrades, furnace repairs, plaster and drywall repairs, electrical upgrades, new roofing, new flooring, water heaters and more.

Mayor Sue Murray noted that the chosen contractors -- incidentally, there were no local general contractors bidding on the project -- have arranged to use local subcontractors wherever possible.

At least two other homes are expected to meet the criteria to qualify for the owner-occupied portion of the Stellar project. Other homes potentially could be added as long as the funding holds out.

In another portion of the Stellar Grant project addressed by the Board of Works, Crawford, Murphy & Tilly Inc. (CMT) consulting engineers, Indianapolis, was given a notice to proceed on preliminary engineering on the streetscapes effort.

Aside from Anderson Street, which is being handled separately, the other Stellar Grant streetscape projects are Washington Street (from Vine to Bloomington), and Locust, Spring, College and Vine streets (from Washington to Seminary).

Plans are to have the preliminary design to INDOT by Jan. 16 in order to make an April 2013 construction letting. INDOT wants the project complete by April 2014.

Cassie Reiter will be CMT's project engineer on the streetscapes work. CMT is the firm responsible for the Super Bowl village design work along Georgia Street in Indianapolis earlier this year.

"When Cassie first came here," Mayor Murray said, "The question was, 'Is this about looking good or structure?' Very much the majority is about the structure. But it's going to look nice, too."

CMT officials will be surveying the streets and the right-of-way in question this coming Monday and Tuesday, using a 3-D scanner to document the surroundings.

On Monday, CMT will scan Indiana and Vine streets (from Washington to Seminary), as well as the alley north of the Vine Street parking lot, which has terrible drainage and is a hazard to navigate in the winter.

On Tuesday, CMT will survey Washington Street (from Vine to Bloomington) and Locust Street (Washington to Seminary).