The Lilly Endowment Inc. award is a $250 million investment supporting Indiana’s READI 2.0 initiative, administered by the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC). The funding empowers regions across the state to revitalize vacant and blighted properties, expand housing, invest in the arts, and enhance quality of place and life. These transformative projects leverage local and private investment to drive long-term economic growth and community development statewide.
Blight Remediation
JD Sheth Foundation Weatherization Enhancement
The JD Sheth Foundation (JDSF) will use all awarded funds to expand its partnership with CenterPoint Energy’s Neighborhood Weatherization and Healthier Homes programs. Since February 2024, JDSF has helped remove financial barriers that limit weatherization for qualifying homes in Evansville. With proven success through ARPA funding, JDSF now plans to expand services to Vanderburgh, Warrick, Gibson, and Posey Counties—supporting rural and vulnerable residents with critical home upgrades like furnace, AC, water heater, insulation, and window repairs to improve energy efficiency, affordability, and housing stability.
Historic Crawford Door Building Mixed Use Renovation & New Construction
Crawford Door involves the historic registration and rehabilitation of the Crawford Door building in addition to a new construction component for a combined total of approximately 139 affordable and workforce housing units and approximately 10,000 square feet of commercial space to serve neighborhood focused organizations. This project will transform the existing, vacant and blighted building and neighboring land into a vibrant, walkable, mixed-use project that will create a true quality of place setting adjacent to historic Bosse Field, Garvin Park, and the Deaconess Aquatics Center. Crawford Door has been mostly vacant in over ten years and had multiple owners during that period.
Franklin Street Lofts
Franklin Street Lofts, LLC, led by Aaron Gabe and John Clark, broke ground on a $13 million adaptive reuse of the historic Hercules Plow factory on Franklin Street. The project will create 56 market-rate apartments with parking and direct access to the Pigeon Creek Greenway Passage, strengthening Evansville’s urban core and supporting small businesses. As the first local development funded through the Lilly Endowment Initiative under READI 2.0, Franklin Lofts represents a major public-private investment in housing, historic preservation, and neighborhood revitalization.
Fieldhouse Flats
AP Development LLC, in partnership with the YMCA of Southwest Indiana and Indiana Landmarks, will revitalize NW 6th Street through the adaptive reuse of the historic Central High School/SW Indiana YMCA Fieldhouse and construction of a new apartment building. The $24.3 million project will create approximately 78 market-rate apartments—38 in the rehabilitated Fieldhouse and 40 in new construction—preserving historic features while expanding downtown housing. Construction is slated to begin in June 2025 and be completed by July 2026.
