Grow Greene County gives funds toward middle school project in Jefferson

Grow Greene County gives funds toward middle school project in Jefferson

October 31, 2019

Raccoon Valley Radio – October 31, 2019

The non-profit gaming license holder for Wild Rose Casino and Resort in Jefferson recently made a pledge for funds to be used on a project.

Grow Greene County Gaming Corporation (GGCGC) donated $60,000 to Greene County Development Corporation (GCDC) for an engineering study to be done on the current middle school. GGCGC President Norm Fandel says following a presentation that was made to GCDC by developer Nate Adams to convert the current building into apartments, GGCGC wanted to provide funds to look at the building to be repurposed into apartments.

“Moving forward with this here project I believe has a lot of different pointers to it. So working with the Greene County Development group to increase the housing and looking at this project, and remodeling the school (building) to (a) 25 apartment facility is an excellent step forward.”

The current middle school will eventually be vacant as the Greene County School District is building a new high school and career academy, and moving the middle school to the current high school building. Fandel adds, this project would address a housing need for the county that continues to grow.

GCDC Executive Director Ken Paxton says the apartment complex is part of the 3-Block Project, which came from a community collaborative plan called Vision 2020. He describes the other parts of the 3-Block Project.

“The first block of that is where the (Greene County) community center is and we’re working on a water park (that’s) year round that will be attached to that. Then once again apartments in the middle school. And then also working with the Greene County Early Learning Center to develop a new building for the daycare, that would be about double the size they have there. Those three projects would be inter-connected by parks, and an amphitheater and green space.”

The next steps in the apartment phase of the project is having Adams work with an architect firm on the design of the building.