Apartment destroyed by fire rises from ashes

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Destroyed by fire five months ago, an Indianapolis affordable housing apartment building is taking shape again. 16 Park has overcome the odds, and is rising from the ashes.

It was the kind of fire that you could see for blocks.  A blaze so hot, the partially finished building had no chance of surviving.

Photos| Vacant apartment complex burns

Yet now, the apartments that burned June 15th, are back on track.  And by next spring people will be moving in. 

"It feels good to be back at this point and know that we are going to finish this building and make these units available for families," says Bruce Baird, President of Insight Development, the arm of the Indianapolis Housing Agency that is developing 16 Park. 

Baird, remembers the fire well.  He lives only four blocks from the building.  He could see the flames from his house. "You just have so much emotion that you really don't, you can't even think beyond protecting the families that are here.  Dealing with some of the immediate concerns," Baird says.

A 30-unit building of the affordable housing development went up in flames June 15th.  Now, the building is at virtually the same point in its construction as it was the day it burned.

"How tough has it been to get it back to this point this quickly.  You don't want to know. It's tough work.  Really hard work," he says. 

Nothing's easy, when a fire causes $2.5 million dollars damage.  "Everything just kind of collapsed inside of me and it was a very emotional time," says  Bud Myers, the executive director of the Indianapolis Housing Agency, which oversees low and moderate income public housing in Indianapolis.  "We knew the need. And we just kept working at it. And thanks to all of contractors and everyone else we're able to get there," he says. 

Myers says the project is only about two months behind the original schedule .  Baird says the units are needed.  "People have been lining up for these units. The minute we get one done, a family moves in or a resident moves in. So, we know the minutes it's done it will fill up," he says. 

The new building is expected to be ready for move-in in February or March.  The exact cause of the massive fire that destroyed the original building has never been determined, though arson was ruled out.  And while IHA and the insurance company have settled most issues, Myers says, there are still a few issues to be resolved.  

If you are interested in renting in park 16 or one of the other IHA developments, please visit their website.