A revised residential development next to the Johnson Creamery Building received site plan approval at the Oct. 18 Bloomington Plan Commission meeting. 

The residential development will be built in the parking lot north of the Creamery building and south of 8th St. It will include 51 apartments of mostly studio and one-bedroom units, with a few two- and three-bedroom apartments. The ground floor, which can be accessed via the BLine, will include a fitness center and office space.

More details are available in the Plan Commission's meeting packet here. Watch the discussion on CATS here.

At their Oct. 13 meeting, Monroe County Commissioners have approved a scaled-down version of Clear Creek Urban, a mixed-use development at the intersection of South Rogers and That Road. The development will include paired townhomes, multi-family units, and commercial space on land across from the U.S. Post Office.

​The original proposal by Blind Squirrels LLC, led by Tamby Cassady, was a higher density version that commissioners rejected earlier this year.

Read the Clear Creek Urban proposal from the commissioners' meeting packet here. Watch the deliberations on CATS here.

At its Sept. 15 meeting, the Monroe County Public Library Board unanimously approved a contract with Strauser Construction to build a new southwest branch. Strauser's was the lowest of three bids, coming in at $10.6 million – about $1.2 million over the library's original estimate. MCPL director Marilyn Wood said that the library would still be able to pay for the branch and retain about $3 million in reserves. 

MCPL plans to build the new 21,000-square-foot branch on land adjacent to Batchelor Middle School at 890 W. Gordon Pike. Earlier this year the Monroe County Council approved issuance of a $6 million bond for the project.

Watch the board's Sept. 15 meeting on CATS here. Read materials related to this issue from the board's Sept. 15 meeting packet here.

A development that will add 340 apartments with a total of 900 bedrooms on the former Kmart site was unanimously approved at the July 12 meeting of the Bloomington Plan Commission. No city council approval is required.

Called the District at Latimer Square, the nearly 12-acre property at 3216 E. 3rd St. is being developed by Trinitas Ventures. The site includes the Bloomingfoods East store, which will remain in place. The plan calls for five residential buildings, one leasing and amenity building, and a 385-space parking structure. Trinitas expects the project will be finished by mid-2023. 

Read materials in the Plan Commission packet here. Watch the July 12 meeting on CATS here.

At their June 16 meeting, Bloomington City Council unanimously approved a 10-year abatement for the Retreat at Switchyard, a residential development at 1730 S. Walnut St. 

The development involves construction of 64 residential units. Of those, 48 units will be devoted to households with low to moderate-incomes for a period of 99 years.  Ten of those 48 apartments are set aside for clients of StoneBelt.  The five-story building, adjacent to the Switchyard Park east entrance, includes a 3,000-square-foot first-floor retail space. The abatement, which is applicable only to the 48 affordable units, would start at 100% and step down to 5% in year 10.

The developer is Real America. The city's Redevelopment Commission intends to convey the land and structure to Real America for $1. That's a value of about $975,000, according to Alex Crowley, director of the city's Economic & Sustainable Development department.

Watch the council's June 16 deliberations on CATS here. Read abatement-related materials from the council's meeting packet here.

Southern Meadows, a project to add 190 residential units on 37 acres in the Clear Creek area, was rejected by Monroe County Commissioners at their June 9 meeting. Commissioners Julie Thomas and Penny Githens voted against it. Commissioner Lee Jones was absent.

Builder Tom Wininger is already approved to build 90 single-family homes on that lot, but wanted to increase density in order to make each unit more affordable. Among other things, commissioners objected to density in that part of the county.

​Watch the project discussion on CATS here. Click here for meeting materials related to Southern Meadows.

In a unanimous vote at their May 12 meeting, Monroe County Commissioners rejected a proposal for housing and retail on South Rogers, known as Clear Creek Urban. The three commissioners objected to the density of the development and possible traffic congestion, and felt there wasn't enough parking.

"We are the county. We are not the city," Commissioner Julie Thomas said. She wants the developer, Tamby Wikle-Cassady, to bring back a scaled-down version of the project, which included townhomes, apartments and commercial/retail space.

Several people spoke in support of the project, including County Councilor Geoff McKim, County Surveyor Trohn Enright-Randolph, and Cathi Crabtree, chair of the Monroe County Affordable Housing Advisory Commission. Representatives of the Chamber and the Bloomington Economic Development Corp. spoke about the need for more housing. One person spoke against it.

Click here to watch the Commissioners' discussion on CATS. Click here to view the project packet.

The City of Bloomington is holding a public forum on Thursday, May 13 to review the reconstruction of West First Street from South Fairview to South College. The project is part of the broader redevelopment of the Bloomington Hospital site, which the city is acquiring later this year.

The forum runs from 6-7 p.m. via this Zoom link. Click here for the project's website. For more information about the overall hospital site redevelopment, click here.

A multi-family housing project with 906 beds is being proposed by Trinitas Ventures for the former Kmart site at 3216 E. 3rd St. Called the District at Latimer Square, it is on the agenda for the Bloomington Plan Commission's May 10 meeting.

The development would include five residential buildings, one leasing and amenity building, and a 385-space parking structure. Three student-oriented apartments would be built on the site's northern section. Two buildings on the south side would have multi-family housing.

​Click here to visit the project's website. UPDATE: The Plan Commission continued discussion of this project to its June 14 meeting.