The Greene County Housing Authority has pitched a proposal to fill some holes on Main Street in White Hall.
According to the Greene Prairie Press, representatives from the Housing Authority appeared at the White Hall City Council meeting on March 11th to discuss plans for a Veteran’s Housing project that would run south of the Farmer’s State Bank building on the west side of Main Street.
Three buildings used to sit there in the 100 block of North Main Street, until a morning fire on January 31, 2017 burned them down. A former optometrist office sat next to what is now the Panda Chinese restaurant burned in the late 1980s. The lots have sat vacant ever since.
According to the proposal presented by Housing Authority Director Shelly Mason and the group’s attorney Eric Hanson, the facade would look similar to a retail space with the back of the building having a courtyard for potential residents. Studio apartments would be housed on a third floor for qualified veterans. The second floor would be for Housing Authority offices, with the bottom floor taking on a community center to be used by the building’s residents and members of the community for various events. There is also the possibility for retail and office space potentially for the Greene County Health Department to use.
The City of White Hall currently owns the three lots where the former Union Hall building as well the others that burned in 2017. According to the report, the Housing Authority and the city are currently working on a deal for the Housing Authority to purchase the vacant real estate to make the project viable.