Late last month, we were honored and thrilled to share the news of our groundbreaking at Karwick Village, La Porte County’s first cooperative community built to bring affordable housing to La Porte County.
Earlier this past week, we shared the exciting news that with our building permit in hand from the city of Michigan City, our site development work can begin.
Today, we are sharing another major milestone in bringing Karwick Village to Michigan City: our approach to construction.
Building in Phases:
Since the inception of this project, we knew that whatever our construction approach, we would proceed with a phased model of building to coincide with funding and welcome our first residents as early in the process as possible.
Our project has always been broken into two phases. Today, we are sharing our construction approach for phase one. For phase one of the Karwick Village building, we will complete the foundation and the outside of all 4 residential buildings 12 units total. This has been strategically chosen to create four weather-tight residential buildings, allowing internal work to continue at a later date. One of the four buildings will be completed entirely during this phase, allowing up to six individuals to be housed by the end of 2025. Work will continue in phase two to finish the other three residential buildings and the community center after phase one is complete, and as funds are raised for this portion of the project.
Small Site, Big Challenges:
The site for Karwick Village was chosen strategically to be close to transportation links, shopping, parks, and schools. Our site is a little over an acre, and in order to build multiple units on this plot, it requires careful planning and coordination.
The small size of this property poses challenges for multiple contractors working on the site at one time. We have been very grateful to have two contractors who are willing to coordinate their work at the same time on site, which also led us to adopt our construction approach for phase one.
Both Pavey Excavating, which will be completing site development work including excavation, sewer and water, and A&T Concrete Inc., pouring foundations and sidewalks, will coordinate on-site together.
Benefits of this Approach:
When working with the challenges on a small site, it allowed us to be inventive in our construction approach. Once site work is complete and concrete is poured, going back to set additional foundations for the other buildings can be challenging, yet this approach allowed us to circumvent this challenge.
Additionally, this approach saves costs and protects the project from additional materials costs. Expanding the original scope of phase 1 to now enclose all four residential building, we anticipate avoiding the impact of lumber shortages or cost increases due to impending tariffs or other unforeseen changes.
Another benefit of this approach is that with the four residential exteriors complete, the buildings can continue to be worked on during the colder and wetter weather months.
Last, is that this approach will allow us to finish all site work, including final grading, paving, planting, and landscaping of Karwick Village. This is important for our first residents to have a safe and beautiful place to call home.
We want to thank everyone who has supported the project to this point and encourage you to continue your support.
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Site development begins next week, and we anticipate building construction to begin as early as June.
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