Jasper Common Council agrees to provide matching funds for Premier Property/Krempp Construction project
The Jasper Common Council voted unanimously to authorize a letter of support for the redevelopment of the former Indiana Desk building downtown, a non-binding but potentially pivotal step in securing a $3 million Lilly Endowment grant that developers say the project cannot survive without.
Ruger Kerstiens, CEO of Premier Property Management, returned to the council with an updated financing picture for the nearly $16 million project — slightly up from the $15 million figure presented last month.
“What we’re asking for tonight is a non-binding local support letter that we can attach to our Lily Endowment application that is due next week,” he told the council during his presentation. “We have everything else put together. We’re hoping that we have support tonight so we can include that letter.”
The project would convert the 119-year-old building at 13th and Mill Street into 60 market-rate apartments and up to 50,000 square feet of commercial flex space. A courtyard and green space would occupy the footprint of the smaller structures that have already been demolished.
The most significant financial change since the May presentation is the city’s contribution from the tax increment financing (TIF) funds. After working with the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, developers shifted $500,000 of the local match burden toward Lilly Endowment funds, at the recommendation of both entities, reducing Jasper’s cash contribution from $1.5 million to $1 million.
“We are working and trying to figure the best way that we can utilize the LEI (Lilly Endowment) funds,” Kerstiens told the council. “At the end of the day, the net for us is the same, but we’re able to utilize the funds that are in the LEI grant funds from the state versus trying to pull more from the local funds.”
The Lilly Endowment blight funds require a one-to-one local match, meaning the local support package must equal the $3 million in state funds being sought. That match doesn’t have to be cash — it can be assembled from multiple sources, and the developers have structured it in three layers.
The first is the $1 million TIF contribution. The second is a proposed 10-year phased property tax abatement, whose estimated savings IEDC counts toward the match at cost.
Kerstiens said the abatement’s dollar value turned out to be “more significant than originally anticipated,” which is what made the TIF reduction possible. Baker Tilly is still finalizing the assessed-value calculations.
The third layer is existing public infrastructure investment. This includes city and utility projects already completed or budgeted in the immediate area, including Mill Street waterline work and planned Vine Street paving and sidewalk improvements. Those dollars are already spent or allocated and require no new ask of the city.
If the Lilly application is approved, the TIF funds would come from Jasper’s central TIF district. City finance staff worked with Baker Tilly after the May meeting to identify a payment structure that maintains minimum cash reserves in the fund while still supporting this project and leaving capacity for future ones.
Mayor Ryan Craig previously floated spreading payments over 15 years at roughly $100,000 per year. The Wheatley Group, the economic development consulting firm advising the project, indicated that structure is acceptable to the state as long as it can be documented, though the structure of the million-dollar payout was not discussed at Wednesday’s meeting.
The formal mechanism would be a conditional expenditure agreement — a binding commitment that would come before the council in a separate action after the Lilly application is reviewed.
Kerstiens was candid about the stakes. Without the TIF support, the project can’t qualify for the Lilly grant. Without the Lilly grant, he said, the project is effectively dead.
“You could probably throw it into an AI model,” he told the council, describing the financing. “The return metrics are just razor thin.”
Indiana Landmarks has expressed full support for the project and will serve as an advisory resource on restoration decisions rather than a capital partner. A Lilly Endowment regional representative who lives in Spencer County has already walked the site during the previous developer’s attempt, giving the state agency direct familiarity with the building.
Councilman Vince Helming raised concerns about the TIF commitment, noting a general opposition to TIF financing, but was reassured that Monday’s letter carries no binding financial obligation. Formal processes for the tax abatement and conditional expenditure agreement will come separately.
“Tonight, all we’re asking for is a letter of support,” said City Attorney Renee Kabrick.
If the Lilly Endowment approves the application — a process that could take up to three months — developers plan to return to the council for formal action on the TIF contribution and tax abatement. Interior demolition is slated to begin in 2027, with project completion targeted for 2028.
The unfinished northwest corner of the building, which includes the former office and showroom space, will be weatherproofed during this phase but left for a potential future development phase. Approximately 70,000 square feet of the roughly 180,000-square-foot building remains outside the current proposal’s scope.
“We would love to obviously continue the project and finish that space out,” Kerstiens said, “if this first round is successful.”
