East Main Redevelopment nears finish line in downtown Milan

Downtown Milan is about to get a big boost in the new year as the first lofts from the East Main Redevelopment project begin to come online.

"We're pretty well along," says Dave Snyder, developer of East Main Redevelopment. "We have been at it for six months. We're about a month from the first apartment being ready."

East Main Redevelopment is redeveloping some of the oldest storefronts in Milan into a mixed-use facility that combines their historic attributes with 21st Century Conveniences. The four commercial building, all built in the mid-to-late 1800s, are located at the corner of Wabash and Main streets. They are all connected and encompass 27,000 square feet of space.

The upper stories of the two-and-three-story buildings have been gutted down to the studs in an effort to build out 15 loft apartments. The lofts will range in size from 700 to 1,100 square feet and will serve as a rentals to start. Snyder expects the first units to come online in January and have most, if not all of them, occupied by February.

The ground floor spaces are built out to eight storefronts. Snyder's team has finished building out the core systems for each space and rebuilt the storefront to accentuate its historic character. Each space could hold a business or storefronts could be combined for a larger tenant. Snyder expects work on them to complete shortly after he starts signing leases for the spaces.

"We have three or four folks we are talking to on a regular basis," Snyder says.

Snyder first became interested in the project when he was a part-owner in the Milan Bakery. He thought the redevelopment of the buildings would make a good spot for a newly expanded bakery. Snyder eventually sold off his interest in the bakery and went on to pursue the East Main Redevelopment.

Source: Dave Snyder, developer of East Main Redevelopment
Writer: Jon Zemke

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