Bloomington tries again for more housing: Second public offering OK’d for Hopewell South blocks in planned new neighborhood at former hospital site

At its regular Monday meeting, Bloomington’s redevelopment commission approved a public offering of land in the planned Hopewell neighborhood, which is on and near the site of the former IU Health hospital at 2nd and Rogers streets.

The two blocks are part of the Hopewell South properties, which are on the south side of 1st Street, west of Rogers Street. A year ago, the RDC issued a public offering, but did not move forward on either of the two proposals that it received.

Responses to the public offering approved on Monday are due on Nov. 1.

At Monday’s meeting, Bloomington RDC member Randy Cassady said that “by this time next year” he’d like to see some housing being built. Even if it’s not occupied, he’d like to see construction started, Cassady said.

The 2023 public offering listed out the prices as follows: Block 8 ($1,448,350), Block 9 ($1,448,350), and Block 10 ($664,030). The public offering that was approved by Bloomington’s RDC on Monday includes just two of the blocks, Block 9 and Block 10, at the same prices.

According to Bloomington’s director of economic and sustainable development Jane Kupersmith, the respondents to last year’s RFP are not excluded from future consideration.

Responding to an emailed B Square question, Kupersmith wrote: “When Mayor [Kerry] Thomson took office in 2024, one of her first priorities was evaluating the City’s financial commitments for major projects, including Hopewell.”

Kupersmith’s message continued: “When we were ready to re-start the development process, based on feedback from the developer community, we wanted to release a new offering to give an opportunity to more respondents.”

Not included in this year’s public offering is Block 8, which includes 714 S. Rogers St.—a 59,000-square-foot former convalescent center, which was built in 1973. The 714 S. Rogers St. building has received attention from the RDC in the last year due efforts to secure the building against break ins, mitigating the resulting water damage, and efforts to increase private security patrols.

According to the public offering approved by the RDC on Monday, the redevelopment of the 714 S. Rogers Street building is on a separate path from the other two blocks in Hopewell South. From this year’s offering: “Although this building is part of Hopewell South, given that this building is prioritized for adaptive reuse, it is on a separate development trajectory.”

Previously, Kupersmith has said that the public offerings for Hopewell East and Hopewell West will not run concurrently with the Hopewell South public offering.

Compared to last year’s offering, this year’s document includes a lot more detail about the RDC’s expectations of the proposals, especially when it comes to the affordability and the sustainability of the housing to be built by the respondents.

The 2023 offering alludes only indirectly to the city’s “plans for the Hopewell Neighborhood” in the context of the selection criteria. From the 2023 offering:

In determining the best offer, the RDC shall take into account price and other considerations; the timing of the transaction and redevelopment of the property; source of debt and equity funds; development resumé; any existing relationships with parties related to the approval process (“Parties”); the proposed redevelopment plan and future uses; the scope of Redevelopment Commission Resolution 23-73 Exhibit A investigation/discussion with Parties; how the offer and intended use(s) contribute to the City’s plans for the Hopewell Neighborhood; and any other statutory criteria in Indiana Code § 36-7- 14-22.

That contrasts with some specific goals listed out in this year’s offering:

This 3.6-acre area (Blocks 9 and 10) is the first redevelopment area within the whole 24- acre Hopewell Neighborhood, envisioned with a variety of housing types at price points available to individuals and families.

Development of the Project Site must include high quality design, materials, and construction. The architecture must be compatible with the character of the larger community. The project should use environmentally friendly and sustainable principles in design and construction. A sustainability goal of no less than LEED Silver for the most recent applicable LEED standard is strongly encouraged. The development must comply with the standards for architecture, materials, and construction defined in the UDO as currently zoned. Fully electric developments will be given preferential scoring.

Included in the offering this year is a table with affordability goals for the units listed out by block:

This year’s offering also asks respondents to describe their experience with developments in connection with a community land trust (CLT). That’s because the city of Bloomington is currently working with Summit Hill Community Development Corporation to develop a CLT to identify potential projects.

The key idea related to a CLT is shared equity—which entails ownership of the land by a government or nonprofit entity, but ownership of the building by an eligible homeowner. When homeowners sell, they share any increase in land value with the CLT, which helps maintain affordability for future buyers.

During Monday’s meeting, RDC member Deborah Myerson expressed interest in seeing some kind of shared equity model that helps preserve the affordability of the housing that gets built in the Hopewell neighborhood.

Bloomington’s plans for Hopewell include building up to 1,000 new units of housing.

It was in December 2021 when IU Health moved its hospital operations from the 2nd and Rogers streets location its new facility off the SR 46 bypass.