A historic, deeply rooted building in the heart of Whitewater is set to receive a much-needed refresh, following a pivotal vote from city officials.
The Whitewater Common Council on Feb. 1 approved a developer’s agreement with Bower’s House LLC, a company that has acquired the so-called White Elephant building at 183 W. Main St. The colloquial reference to the building refers to the antique shop that had operated at the site.
The five-page developer’s agreement with Greg Aprahamian, head of Bower’s House LLC, codifies a number of issues related to the property, including a wide-ranging list of interior and exterior improvements and funding sources to see the project through.
A key lynchpin to the agreement’s consummation was the receipt of a community development investment, or CDI, grant from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp.
The CDI grant, which has been pegged at $250,000, was sought after in October 2020 with the city’s assistance.
“We started this one-and-a-half years ago,” Cathy Anderson, the city’s economic development director, said of the CDI grant application. “It’s a long, arduous process to do a restoration and renovation of this size.”
The total rehab of the White Elephant building could stretch beyond $2 million, Anderson told the council at the recent meeting.
Other funding sources outside the developer’s own commitment are in the mix, including a low-interest $150,000 loan for infrastructure improvements and a $1.08 million façade loan between Bower’s House and the Whitewater Community Development Authority.
Anderson said the work to bring the site back to its original glory will be extensive.
“If you’ve ever been in it, it’s a hot mess,” Anderson said, adding that the improvements will add value to an existing property that has long been on the city’s tax rolls.
During the recent discussion, Anderson also delved into the multiple reasons for the 16-month span of time between the council’s approval of the CDI grant application and the adoption of the developer’s agreement.
Once the council gave its go-ahead to seek out the CDI grant, Anderson said Aprahamian went through the multiple steps to satisfy the application requirements — a process that wrapped in November.
“It took that long for the owner to get every single contractor in there to give a written bid,” Anderson said. “That was part of those really stringent requirements of the grant.”
After the grant was submitted, Anderson said new, updated quotes had to be furnished in light of ever-changing cost of materials and labor in the current inflationary market.
The city served as the liaison for the CDI grant to meet the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp.’s requirements. City Manager Cameron Clapper explained the process in October 2020 when the council gave its approval.
“Essentially, this grant program is provided and requires that the dollars for the grant go toward a private property owner and be passed through the city,” Clapper said at the time. “So, as a part of the program, we need to pass a resolution. After that, we will go ahead and apply for the grant.”
As noted in the city’s resolution at the time, one of the reasons behind the CDI grant is to “drive downtown redevelopment.”
