Dorri Partain
Managing Editor

Prior to a groundbreaking ceremony on Thursday, Dec. 3, design renderings showcasing the Historic Northeast Lofts project’s concept greatly contrasted with interior walls marked by years of graffiti and neglect. After years of planning, funding and remediation, Arnold Development Group, along with numerous City and federal partners, celebrated the next phase –- construction — of this multi-million dollar redevelopment at 5401 Independence Ave.

Formerly known as the Hardesty Federal Complex, this multiple-building site has seen its share of redevelopment plans in the past decade. Arnold Development, led by Jonathan Arnold, first announced his project for housing, retail and amenities in February 2021.

Earlier this year, Nomad Develops announced a partnership that would re-envision the complex’s Building 10 as the Historic Northeast Public Market, opening in summer 2027.

Building 10 was the site for the press conference and design showcase, including a solar array that will provide up to 50 percent of the complexes’ energy needs.

After Mayor Quinton Lucas welcomed attendees, City Council representative Crispin Rea, Fourth District-at-Large, spoke about growing up nearby, in the Blue Valley neighborhood, and thinking it was just a blighted industrial site where nothing would ever happen to reshape its future, but he now believes this project is transformational.

“It doesn’t do this project justice to call it ‘transformational’,” said Rea. “Knowing the challenges this neighborhood has had, this isn’t a place that sees a lot of economic development.”

Rea also acknowledged the partnerships, private and public, city and non- city, that made it possible to get to this point, as well as funding for toxin remediation through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). David Cozad, EPA Region 7 Acting Deputy Regional Admin, spoke next about the challenges of this project.

“The EPA has injected $10 million total Brownfields Funding (for remediation) to help get this going,” said Cozad. “Back then, in 2022, we stood in this very spot to talk about what this might be, what this could become. And today, before our eyes, we see it’s going to be all that.”

“Too often, contamination stymies redevelopment, flat out prevents it. Places like this stay empty, dilapidated, deteriorating. The EPA Brownfields program is about changing that, and turning eyesores into assets, and that’s why the EPA is excited to be a part of this,” Cozad said.

Developer Jonathan Arnold spoke about the history of all the buildings on this site and its uses, from a 1919 garment factory and warehouse, to a federal complex during and after World War II. The challenge for him and his team was to figure out the best mix for a successful redevelopment.

“For the last two decades, myself and the team I’ve had the privilege of working with,(the challenge) has been setting what works- what actually moves the needle for families trying to build stable lives,” said Arnold.

Arnold described a complete community, from 395 residential units in the main building, along with a community center and child daycare, a public market, fitness center, and healthcare and job training in the complex’s additional buildings. Additional amenities would include a walkable streetscape, landscaping and public spaces, and a pool and rooftop garden for loft residents.

Loft units will offer a range of living options from studios to four-bedrooms, with 83 percent reserved for those within 30-80 percent of the AMI (Average Median Income).

“This is what a neighborhood looks like, when it’s designed around what families need,” Arnold stated.

Mayor Quinton Lucas, officials, and community members were invited to sign a nearby wall, then went outside and posed for photos as the official “groundbreaking” took place.

Arnold Development Group has completed similar projects, converting warehouses into RM West at 234 W. 4th St. Construction is expected to be completed in 2028.

All photos by Dorri Partain.