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Not all seven members of the Kosciusko County Council were sold Thursday on the idea of the former First Christian Church, owned by the county, being converted to a multi-use art space.
Terry Sweeney, Main Street Warsaw (MSW) director of development, and Suzie Light, MSW Board member, requested permission from the council to apply for a $22,100 reimbursable grant from the Kosciusko County Community Foundation so information can be collected on the county-owned First Christian Church building, 202 W. Main St., Warsaw, to be used toward an application for a Lilly Endowment Arts & Culture READI grant.
Sweeney said the portal for the Arts & Culture grant just opened about 10 days ago and closes April 15 so they have a short timeframe to apply. The county commissioners on Tuesday approved a request letter to the Community Foundation for a grant for philanthropic funds for the first phase of a market update and business planning study, SKRM Architects’ architectural work and cost estimates to convert the church building into a multi-use art space.
“As you may know, Design Collaborative just recently completed work of an architectural assessment of the church and other county buildings and showed that there was $1-2 million worth of critical repairs and priority repairs that need to be made to that building in order to stabilize it,” he said.
The phase I study will enable the county, along with community partners, to obtain critical information on the church building to then potentially submit a grant application to the Lilly Endowment.
“The potential funding that could be obtained may allow this historic structure to be saved and be turned into a community cultural asset,” he said, in alignment with downtown Warsaw’s Cultural Arts District plan.
Sweeney pointed out the Community Foundation actually already approved the funds for the reimbursable grant earlier this week for the study. With the county being the owner of the former church property, the county had to be the grant applicant to the Community Foundation, which the county commissioners approved. Sweeney acknowledged they probably should have sought permission from the county council first, too, but it all just happened so quickly. He said the county is not financially committed to anything at this point.
Councilwoman Rachael Rhoades restated phase I is just the study to see if use of the church building is feasible for a multi-use art space, with the grant from the Community Foundation to cover the study being for $22,100.
“Now, since it is the county’s property, my understanding - and this was before my service on the council - but looking back and speaking to former people who served on the council at that time, the idea with that property was a couple of different things. At that time it was for potential parking, and then also was considered for building upon the jail,” she said. “If our community continues to grow, because of its location, it was considered to help build upon the jail. So just things to consider as well as we look into this process.”
Sweeney said in some ways the church project is predicated on the parking garage being built on North Buffalo Street.
“So, that’s an important thing. And as I’ve chatted in the community with some of the other things we’re working on that we can’t really talk about now, there’s a new development that will happen that we’re working on if the garage is built. So in some ways, the garage helps with parking in the current and the future, but the dividend is the new investment it will spur and we’re already working on that, and that’s going to be a part of our grant application,” he said.
Council Vice President Kathleen Groninger said all three county commissioners signed the letter because of its importance.
Light said, “If you think about this art venue as a place where the creative economy can function - and it’s economic development, this is not fufu art stuff. This is where people can come as an entrepreneur, learn from others, make money. And that’s what this art space can do. It’s not a competition with the Wagon Wheel. It’s not going to be a professional art venue. But just think: It could be a place where we livestream the Hoosiers basketball game and the community could come and watch it. It could be a place where food trucks prepare their food in the commissary kitchen and then go out and sell it. It could be a vital, important thing for our community and an attraction for people to come downtown.”
Councilwoman Kimberly Cates said she sees it as a workspace for artists to come in once in a while as they need to do their art.
Light said, “So think about not just artists who paint pictures or who do sculptures, but artists who make jewelry, artists who do culinary arts. Pottery. Ceramics. Design. Videography, photography. It’s a huge economic engine.”
If the parking garage moves forward, Sweeney said the multi-use art space will generate parkers and revenue for the garage. It’ll also bring more people downtown more often to spend more money, which helps the businesses and increases the property tax base. Currently, Kosciusko County loses some of its entertainment dollars to other cities in other counties like Fort Wayne, South Bend and Wabash.
“So this is just one more arrow in the quiver for us to keep revenue here or bring it in, as opposed to losing it to outside of our economy,” Sweeney said.
Light told the council if they look at the plan that Sweeney gave them, “we had a lot of community buy-in and community members told us what they would like to see in the way of arts and culture. More music downtown. So we’re real excited about it.”
Sweeney said it’s very consistent with the North East Indiana Redevelopment Authority’s Regional Cultural Development Plan.
By a vote of 5-2, the council approved the grant application for $22,100 for a feasibility study of the former church. Rhoades and Councilman Dave Wolkins voted against it.
Rhoades said the only reason she was opposed “isn’t because I haven’t reviewed your booklet. You guys have done a phenomenal job, and I know the hard work that you’re putting into this and the vision behind it. It’s a beautiful vision. And understand that we also have a responsibility as a council, and I’m going to speak for myself in this situation, to think ahead of what might come in the future fiscally and with this growth it could bring, we also have to think about safety, we have to think about what that property was invested in, for the purpose of that property.”
She said because of the church’s close proximity to the jail, she can see it a better use for it and that’s why she voted against the grant application.
