One of my first thoughts when I first heard about the Harrison Square project two years ago was, “They’re putting it where?”  The west side of Ewing Street and surrounding two block area has to be one of the worst  areas in the downtown area.  To be fair, there are some property owners that have kept their properties up, but probably a similar amount have let ’em go.  Case in point, the houses south of the Jefferson Boulevard intersection.  The properties are up for sale, by the owner who lives in Indianapolis.  Since Ewing has been closed for utility work, the houses have had their windows busted out, plus one of the houses has had graffiti sprayed on the front of it.  This is probably because there is no traffic in the area so the chance of getting caught while engaging in such shenanigans is nil.
I have blogged about this area before, here and here. Â A quick check with my contacts in the City government didn’t reveal anything. Â The properties actually look like they’re on the verge of being torn down. Â With all the heavy equipment in that area, I think it could easily be arranged. Â The problem is, if this is pure and simple vandalism, unless there are severe structural problems with the houses, the City cannot step in and demolish them. Â This means our multi-million dollar investment in that area will open on April 17th, 2009 across the street from boarded up, run-down houses. Â It’s too bad the City didn’t have enough funds two years ago to acquire these properties as well. Â Not so much so they could have developed them, but it could have avoided a situation such as this.
Let’s hope somone steps up and turns those properties into something complimentary to Harrison Square.
Previous AFW Posts concerning Ewing Street:
A Walk Down Ewing Street – 23rd October 2008
Another Demolition on Ewing Street? - 11th September 2008
Demolition on Ewing Street - 2nd July 2008
Ewing Street properties for sale – 11th March 2008
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