Rolando Trentini

The 2009 Evansville Living Idea Home will be open for tours Saturday through Sept. 20. Tours will be held from 11 a.m. to7 p.m. daily.

The 8,300-square-foot showcase home is located at 5844 Cypress Pointe Drive, in The Estates at Victoria.

The home was built by Messinger Construction and features work from area designers, builders and craftsmen.

Tickets are $10 per person and can be purchased at any Schnucks location or online at www.evansvilleliving.com.

All proceeds will benefit the Tri-State Food Bank, Warrick County Community Foundation and other local charities.

- John Lucas

Source: http://www.courierpress.com/news/2009/sep/07/no-headline---07a03evansvilleliving-brf/

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is joining forces with the Evansville Levee Authority this week to assess the integrity of the city's 27 miles of flood protection levees and their pumping stations.

The Evansville levee system, begun after the disastrous 1937 flood, is designed to protect the city from the floodwaters of the Ohio River and is divided into seven sections.

Construction of the Knight and Howell levee - the city's first - began in 1939 and was completed in 1948. The newest section, along Pigeon Creek on the city's North Side, was added in 1994. The Federal Emergency Management Agency began calling for the certification of levee systems throughout the country in 2007 in response to levee failures at New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina

By FEMA regulations, levee systems must provide protection from an annual 1 percent flood chance, often referred to as a 100-year flood. FEMA also uses the information to formulate new flood insurance rate maps.

Jay Perry, superintendent of the Evansville Levee Authority, said monthly inspections are made to the system, but he added that the FEMA certification inspection process is much more intense and expensive.

The inspection process alone will cost the Levee Authority $408,000.

"It's a lot more thorough than our other inspections we've had, too," Perry said. "They're looking at everything from Point A to Point B and everything in between."

The 28 Corps engineers operate in teams that review the geotechnical, structural, mechanical, electrical and hydraulic aspects of the levees.

Daniel Frank, the Corps' levee safety program manager, said the inspections are just "the field scenario portion" of the accreditation process, which he expects to end Friday.

After the inspections and field reports, Frank said, the Corps will have until Nov. 12 to report to FEMA.

If Evansville's levee system fails to meet accreditation requirements, Frank said the levee authority then would have 18 months to meet the regulations before being classified as unaccredited. Such a classification could lead to FEMA deeming the area a flood zone.

"If that were the case, people who don't have to pay for flood insurance now may have to pay for it in the future," Perry said. "Hopefully, it won't come to that here. We have a few things here that aren't perfect, but that's with anything."

At the river stage of 26 feet, station pumps begin dumping rain and storm water into the Ohio River, Perry said.

"Our pumping season is from November to June. Sometimes we pump into July. This year, the river came up in August, so it really all depends on weather conditions."

The levee sections have 19 pumping stations that include 55 pumps.

Perry said small units can pump about 1,000 gallons of water per minute, and the larger units can process 143,000 gallons per minute.

In addition to paying for the inspections, Perry said, the Levee Authority will spend $100,000 to clean six miles of pipes at the pump station locations. The process must be videotaped and sent to FEMA for further assessment.

Source: http://www.courierpress.com/news/2009/sep/03/inspectors-making-sure-levees-will-keep-city-dry/

Investors are returning as the real estate market recovers.

BusinessWeek's real estate guru Marc Roth points out these opportunities, which he says make sense if investors are willing to look over the property carefully and ask tough questions.

Options they should consider include:

• Buying a single-family house. This could be a first home or a dream home or a home to rent out.
• Buying a multi-family investment property.
• Snapping up a vacation property. There are deep discounts to be found in high-end resort areas.
• Investing in a Real Estate Investment Trust. REITs were hit hard in the downturn, but many are on their way back.

Source: BusinessWeek, Marc Roth (08/26/2009) http://www.realtor.org/rmodaily.nsf/pages/News2009082701?OpenDocument

The U.S. Department of Energy has approved the state's proposal to use nearly $132 million in federal stimulus funding to help more than 30,000 low-income Hoosier households. Within the next two weeks, auditors will begin evaluating residences to determine energy needs. The state says it has trained 190 energy auditors and 483 contractors. Following the audit, homeowners may receive energy savings equipment including programmable thermostats, insulation, new furnaces or hot water heaters.

The state's energy conservation proposal to use nearly $132 million in federal stimulus funding to help more than 30,000 low-income Hoosier households has been approved by the U.S. Department of Energy.

"We appreciate the department giving the green light to our program. We're eager to get going," said Governor Mitch Daniels. "Our goal is to lower utility costs for as many people as possible as quickly as possible, putting a dent in Indiana's overall energy consumption along the way."

This new program, combined with annual weatherization programs operated by the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority (IHCDA), will be 11 times the total of all current annual weatherization programs. New non-profit partners such as the Rural Electric Member Cooperatives (REMC) and the Indiana Builders Association, Inc., will be involved for the first time.

Within the next two weeks, energy auditors will begin evaluations of households to determine energy needs. To date, the state has trained 190 energy auditors and 483 contractors. The state will have exceeded its training goals by the end of September.

Eligible households, which must be at or below 150 percent of the federal poverty level, will be notified of their participation. Those who have already qualified for the state's Energy Assistance Program will be contacted, and priority will be given to elderly and disabled residents and families with children.

Following the audit, homeowners may receive energy savings equipment such as programmable thermostats, insulation, new furnaces or hot water heaters. A state quantity purchasing plan will be used to purchase those materials in bulk using the state's Buy Indiana initiative, to the extent allowable by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act legislation.

"The Obama administration has flagged weatherization as its number one concern for potential fraud under its stimulus package. While stretching dollars to reach more households, central purchasing will eliminate the chance for fraud or cronyism on the materials front," said Sherry Seiwert, executive director of IHCDA.

Expenditures of up to $5,000 per household will be made. It is expected that about 2,000 contractors will be used to complete the work in Indiana households.

Earlier this year, the IHCDA sought bids and selected non-profit entities from throughout Indiana to administer funds and oversee completion of the first half of the energy conservation work for $55 million. The contracts with 30 service providers will be performance based; measurements will include how much conservation is achieved per dollar spent, and renewal will depend on each provider's results.

A list of the selected service providers may be found at this link: http://www.in.gov/ihcda/files/Press_Release_ecp_service_providers.pdf

Source: Office of the Governor http://www.insideindianabusiness.com/newsitem.asp?ID=37411

The former Welborn Baptist Hospital building in downtown Evansville is headed to the auction block.
St. Mary's owns the building, but officials said they haven't used it for anything in three years.
And, now the hospital system wants out.
The biggest part of the property is this hospital building and the land it's on.
But, St. Mary's is also including two other disconnected parking lots.
Kurtz Auction and Realty is running the bid process.
Interested parties can make bids through October 22.
And, there will be a final decision on October 28.
Tim Flesch, St. Mary's CEO, said he doesn't know if anyone's interested yet nor how much money people would be willing to pay for the site.
And, Jason Blue, with Kurtz, said there's no minimum bid.
So, if high bid is one dollar, then that's how much the winner will pay for the property.
Commercial developers across the region are now asking themselves if they can make a profit by owning the old Welborn Baptist Hospital.
The medical system is eager to get it off the books.
St. Mary's spends hundreds of thousands of dollars on it each year.
And, the building hasn't even been used since 2006.
"We do pay real estate taxes on it. I don't know those numbers," Flesch said. "We still have it insured. We maintain the grass and the facility and the building. And, we have heat, light, power still on at the levels necessary to maintain the building."
But, how much the property costs for St. Mary's to own right now and how much its worth to a commercial developer could be two very different numbers.
"There's some value there," said Jason Blue, with Kurtz Auction and Realty. "But, it's tough to determine what that value is."
The bids will determine exactly what that value is, especially because there's no minimum bid.
Commercial developers FOX 7 spoke with had mixed feelings about the property.
Some said it was a good building with a lot of potential.
Others said there are so many questions about the property they'd be hesitant about bidding.
One of the potential issues in selling this property is that the Welborn building actually shares some of its utilities with the one next door. And, that one isn't on the auction block nor owned by St. Mary's. Just think about that. What if you and your next door neighbor had the same furnace to heat your homes?
Another possible issue, it was built as a hospital.
Moving forward, the new owner can't use it that way.
"We don't believe we need another acute care facility in town, another acute care hospital. So, a restriction is that it can't be turned into that," said Flesch.
But, that doesn't exclude the possibility of putting in a nursing home or assisted living facility - the path that might be easiest for a developer to handle.
Speaking of nursing home facilities, there's one that's been in the news a lot recently, Riverwalk Communities, which currently uses the McCurdy Building.
The plan is to move the residents to the old Knights of Columbus building.
Ben Kunkel, whose company is working that space, said going into this space instead is not a realistic option.

Source: http://tristatehomepage.com/content/fulltext/?cid=92401