New homes being built in low-income Muncie neighborhood

MUNCIE, Ind. – Ten single-family homes are being built in Whitely Neighborhood this summer, part of the Southern Terrace development that aims to spread affordable housing in low-income areas of the city.

The east-side neighborhood has been earmarked for development upgrades that include a new fire station, new park playground equipment and major repaving of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, an east-side thoroughfare.

Mayor Dan Ridenour said a search of city construction permits showed only four new residential homes had been built in Whitely in the past 22 years. However, in 2011 Centennial Place affordable housing was built and offers 35 one- and three-bedroom apartment homes in the neighborhood.

Southern Terrace is a project of Advantix Development Corp. based in Evansville. In addition to the work in Whitely, the company intends to build 25 townhomes on the southside at Walnut and 26 ^th streets. That project is also underway. Advantix will also build 10 more single-family homes in Industry, Eastside and Blaine Southeast neighborhoods.

The project was awarded $1.2 million in Low Income Housing Tax Credits resulting in 45 new residences in Muncie.

Ridenour again said Muncie needs new housing stock to grow.  As of February, 93 new single-family homes were in development in the city.

“This will increase the quality of life,” said Ken Hudson, executive director of the Whitely Community Council.

He said he was glad for the efforts by the city administration to make changes that stand to make life better in the neighborhood. “We’re happy,” he said. But he added that the city missed a chance to discuss the new housing plan before it was already done.

“We kind of got it after it was already decided,” Hudson said.

There were concerns about adding more rental property to the community in the short term, he said.

The program offered through Southern Terrace would have the properties available for tenants to rent the homes for 15 years. After that period, tenants will have the option to buy the home at a discount.

Hudson said Whitely has a problem with transient tenants who move in until they fall behind on rent, then move on. The neighborhood now has only a 36% home ownership rate.

“This is going to be a long-term project,” he said. But he hopes it will lead to stable, long-term residents.

Other enhancements for Whitely include a new No. 6 Fire Station along MLK Boulevard. The location of the new building was recently relocated from its current site southward, still inside the park but at Highland Avenue and MLK.

Ridenour said soil tests at the original site indicated the ground might not be firm enough to support the new building.

The mayor also noted that the recently built headquarters for the Muncie Sanitation District along MLK has added more positive development to the area.

Hudson said ongoing upgrades to McCullough Park as well as Riverview Park to the south have provided a real increase to the quality of life for people living in Whitely.

The Whitely Community Council, which operates a monthly food pantry, is continuing its work toward building a community center in the neighborhood at its headquarters at MLK and Centennial Avenue.

Hudson said the council is completing its silent fundraising campaign for the center, which will also feature offices for local nonprofits. The estimated cost for remodeling two buildings for the resource center now stands at about $4.5 million.

In 2022, the city council provided the neighborhood association with $500,000 in seed money for creation of the center that came from federal American Recovery Plan money sent during the COVID pandemic. Hudson said additional grants have since come from the Ball Brothers Foundation and the IU Health Foundation.

Among the organizations planned for the resource center, according to Hudson, will be PathStone Indiana, which offers financial and homeownership counseling.

David Penticuff is a freelance writer for The Star Press.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: New homes being built in low-income Muncie neighborhood