This and that: Addition coming to Old Jeff campus’ senior living
State, federal credits put 100 new units in play at Old Jeff, Snowy Owl Commons projects. TSC’s online academy opens enrollment. Election recap, look forward. Community garden crowdfunding. More.
Thanks today to sponsor French Knot, presenting its annual warehouse sale Dec. 2 and 9 at 525 Wabash Ave. in Lafayette. Click the logo below for more details.
Thanks, also, to Purdue Musical Organizations and the Purdue Christmas Show. This December, gather the whole family and celebrate 90 years of the Purdue Christmas Show. For nearly a century, this beloved holiday tradition has captivated audiences with its dazzling performances and heartwarming messages of love, hope and unity. Watch the stage come alive in the historic Elliott Hall of Music as PMO’s incredible student talent perform beautiful secular and sacred music alongside a live orchestra. December 1-3. BUY TICKETS HERE.
This and that on a Sunday morning …
FUNDING COMES FOR ADDITION TO OLD JEFF CAMPUS, MORE SENIOR LIVING
Good news this week for a pair of senior housing projects – including one that will stand where the former Lafayette Jefferson High School gym was – that received state and federal tax credits that officials said they needed to get started on construction.
Snowy Owl Commons, a project initiated on Lafayette’s south side by Area IV Agency on Aging, and the Jeffersonian, a complex meant to complement the adaptive reuse of Old Jeff on Ninth Street, each received word this week that they’re in line for affordable housing tax credits from the Indiana Housing and Community Development and Affordable Housing Project awards from the Federal Home Loan Bank.
“What a week,” Marie Morse, Homestead Counseling Services executive director, said. Her nonprofit agency will take on construction of the Jeffersonian.
“We need housing so badly in our community,” Morse said. “For both of us to get this news is so great.”
Combined, the projects will add 100 income-based senior living units in Lafayette.
Snowy Owl Commons is a $13.4 million project on 9.5 acres on Twyckenham Boulevard, just behind the Pay Less Super Market plaza on Beck Lane. The Lafayette Redevelopment Commission in May recommended a 10-year tax abatement for the project, a move done to help Area IV Agency on Aging line up the low-income housing tax credits for the units, Elva James, executive director of Area IV, said at the time. The project includes a maximum of 50 single-level units, mostly two-bedroom homes, along with common areas, clubhouse, a dog park and pickleball courts, among other amenities for those 55 or older. The apartments will include 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, an attached garage, and will be ground level. Eligibility for residents will be based upon 80%, 50% and 30% of the area median income. Construction is expected to finished in fall 2024 or spring 2025, according to Area IV Agency. James said a waiting list already is in place.
The Jeffersonian, at 619 N. Ninth St., is a $12.5 million project with 50 units, including efficiencies, one-bedroom and two bedroom floorplans. Morse said the building would go on the southern portion of the parking lot on the Old Jeff campus, along Brown Street. Parking for the Jeffersonian would sit between the new building and the 74-unit Historic Jefferson Centre Senior Apartments, a building renovated two decades ago from the former high school and once-home to Ivy Tech Community College classrooms. Morse said design of the building will have touches meant to play off the former school next door and with input from a series of neighborhood meetings in recent years, as Homestead went through several rounds of the competitive tax credit application process. The building will include what Morse called “a showcase room” for a collection of Old Jeff trophies, news articles and other memorabilia tied to the gym that stood there. Morse said Homestead will accept donations of Old Jeff memorabilia from members of the community. Construction is expected to start in spring 2024 and finish 2025.
COMMUNITY GARDENS DIG INTO CROWD-FUNDING EFFORT
GrowLocal Urban Gardens Network, the folks behind 21 volunteer-run community gardens tucked into Greater Lafayette neighborhoods, are a few days into a one-month crowd-funding challenge. They’re in the market for donations through Dec. 15, as part of the #SeedMarketChallenge, which offers bonus funding for community garden projects that find the sturdy support. Margy Deverall, with the GrowLocal group, said funds raised will provide seeds, plants, fertilizer, supplies, raised beds, garden soil and mulch to the organization’s gardens, including 10 sharing gardens – ones where anyone may come and pick what’s available. The group also partners with local elementary schools with youth oriented garden programming, with some produced donated to local food pantries or delivered to Food Finders Food Bank for its food banks and the Fresh Market Grocery. For more and to help, here’s the link to the current campaign: https://donate.seedmoney.org/9149/growlocal-urban-garden-network
ENROLLMENT OPENS FOR TSC’S THIRD HIGH SCHOOL, AN ONLINE OPTION
Tippecanoe School Corp. opened enrollment this week for its third high school, the Tippecanoe Online Academy, set to open for the 2024-25 school year. The school will be open to students in and outside TSC.
The TSC school board approved creation of the online high school in September. The goal is to have 300 students in the first year, with room to grow beyond that, according to Devin Arms, TSC’s director of technology innovation, who will oversee the new school.
The curriculum, taught by TSC teachers, would be based on the state’s Core 40 diploma criteria, with no honors, AP or dual credit courses offered in the first year. Students would be able to set up hybrid schedules with their current TSC high school or the Greater Lafayette Career Academy, but Tippecanoe Online Academy would be its own school, not an offshoot of TSC’s McCutcheon and Harrison high schools. Tippecanoe Online Academy would offer its own diploma.
TSC will partner with Arizona State University Prep Digital for program design, teacher certification and course content. TSC will be the first in Indiana to work with ASU Prep Digital, which has ties with dozens of K-12 online schools across the country, based on a map shown to TSC school board members Wednesday night.
For enrollment details, go to: https://toa.tsc.k12.in.us/
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FAREWELL SET FOR WEST LAFAYETTE ELECTED OFFICIALS
The West Lafayette City Council will turn is monthly pre-council meeting on Nov. 30 into a farewell for a number of outgoing officials, including West Lafayette Mayor John Dennis, who is retiring after four terms and 16 years in office. The event, 5-7 p.m. that day, also will recognize city council members Gerald Thomas, Peter Bunder, Nick DeBoer and Jeff Brown. (Bunder and DeBoer did not run for re-election in November. Brown lost his District 6 seat in the Nov. 7 election. Thomas lost a Democratic primary for at-large seats in May.) The pre-council meeting will be 4:30 p.m. Nov. 30 at City Hall, 222 N. Chauncey Ave. The farewell event will follow from 5-7 p.m.

PURDUE MEMORIAL UNION’S TREE
Purdue Memorial Union’s Christmas tree is set to arrive in the Great Hall – always an engineering feat – around noon Nov. 27, Purdue announced this week. The Norway spruce is coming from Purdue’s grounds and will stay up in the Union through Dec. 26. A tree lighting ceremony will be at 5:30 p.m. Nov. 29. The event will include performances, crafts for children, light refreshments and photo opportunities. For more on Purdue Memorial Union’s holiday schedule, here’s your link.
ELECTION, BACKWARD AND FORWARD
The Tippecanoe County Election Board certified results of the Nov. 7 municipal elections on Friday, rolling out a few stats in the process.
Overall turnout was 11.3% in an election that featured few highly contested races. Things were busiest in Dayton, where nine candidates were vying for five seats on the town council. Turnout there: 33.5% Voters in the West Lafayette Community School Corp. boundaries had a 20% turnout, with the renewal of a property tax referendum on the ballot.
Of interest heading into a 2024 presidential election year, where numbers are expected to be much greater, the first day candidates may officially file to be on the May 2024 primary ballot is Jan. 10, 2024. Here’s a look at the positions that will be up for election:
President
U.S. senator
Governor/lieutenant governor
Attorney General
U.S. representative, 4th District
State senator, District 22
All state representatives
Judge, Circuit Court
Judge, Superior 6
County commissioners, Districts 2 and 3
County treasurer
County coroner
County surveyor
County Council, at-large seats
Shadeland clerk-treasurer and town council
Otterbein Town Council, two at large seats
West Lafayette Community School Corp. school board, three at-large seats
Lafayette School Corp. school board, three at-large seats
Tippecanoe School Corp. school board, Districts 4, 5, 6 and 7
Thanks, again, to sponsor French Knot, presenting its annual warehouse sale Dec. 2 and 9 at 525 Wabash Ave. in Lafayette.
Thanks, also, to Purdue Musical Organizations and the Purdue Christmas Show, with four show times to choose from Dec. 1-3. Get tickets here.
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