When Ben Kunkel and Chuck Harper became friends in the early 1990s while attending North High School, they never dreamed they would team up together 12 years later on a major renovation project Downtown.
Their careers took completely different directions, but their friendship endured.
Now the two 1993 North graduates are the backbone behind the proposed $2.2 million overhaul of the old JC Penney building at 508 Main St., which Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel announced Monday.
Kunkel, 30, recently bought the Main Street property from Evansville attorney David W. Lamont. The sale closed for $175,000 on Nov. 7, according to Pigeon Township assessor records.
Now Kunkel's Evansville design and development firm, The Kunkel Group Inc., is beginning renovation work to turn the old landmark into 23 condominiums.
Harper, 30, is director of sales and marketing for Kunkel on the project, dubbed the Renaissance on Main development. He will continue as the director of the Evansville Rescue Mission's Youth Care Center, a juvenile detention and residential facility Downtown.
Having both grown up in Evansville, Kunkel and Harper share an interest in seeing the Downtown thrive.
In recent years the JC Penney building - vacant since the chain retailer moved to Eastland Mall 24 years ago - caught their eye.
"We started paying attention to it and began planning how we could use it for housing condominiums," Kunkel said.
Kunkel approached city officials for funding and is in line to receive $441,250 from the Evansville Redevelopment Commission. The money will come from the city's Capital Development Fund - $221,250 as a low-interest loan and $220,000 in a grant, Weinzapfel said.
As plans for the renovation of the old building leaked in recent weeks, interest in buying the units began to grow.
Kunkel and Harper confirmed contracts have been signed for nine units.
"We were absolutely surprised. We were going to be ecstatic if four or five sold," Kunkel said.
The units start at $111,500, Kunkel said.
He and Harper think the key to attracting the buyers so quickly is The Kunkel Group's plans to provide one secured parking space for each owner in a facility to be built below ground at the old building site.
They hope to have the remaining condos sold by spring.
Harper said the recent buyers range from small-business owners to pharmaceutical sales reps to construction project managers. Most plan to live in the condos themselves, though some may opt to lease their units, Harper said.
Asbestos and lead paint are being removed from the building. The interior on all levels is expected to be gutted in the near future.
"We want to blend the old with the new in the renovation," Kunkel said. "We want to bring back the large windows that once were across the building, for example. Cosmetically, the building has some issues. But structurally it is as sound as any building that could be built today." Kunkel and Harper recently planned an expansion for the Youth Care Center. The project, which is in the design stage, will add 36 juvenile beds to the facility.
Kunkel graduated in 1998 from Ball State University with a degree in architecture. He joined Morley & Associates as a project architect, helping the firm with such projects as the skywalk that connects the Executive Inn to The Centre. Kunkel designed the O'Day Discovery Lodge at Burdette Park and the All-American Storage Co. building on Vogel Road, off North Green River Road, while with Morley.
His Kunkel Group is developing the Cambridge Club House in northern Vanderburgh County and a Social Security Administration office building and an independent grocery store, both in Bloomington, Ind.
The local firm also is overseeing the expansion of QTR (Quality Thermoplastic Resin) Inc. at 2301 St. Joseph Industrial Park Drive in northwestern Vanderburgh County.
Harper received an undergraduate degree in liberal studies from the University of Evansville in 1998 and a graduate degree in social work from the University of Southern Indiana in 2003.
He first worked at the Youth Care Center a number of years ago and later joined the Ireland & Luzio Behavioral Services Inc. Harper returned to the Youth Care Center as director two years ago.
