Group to Buy Buildings on Standard Avenue

The City Council voted unanimously Monday to lend Bridges America Inc. $610,000 in federal community development grant funds to buy two apartment buildings on South Standard Avenue out of foreclosure.

The loan is part of a larger city program designed to upgrade the Minnie Street-Standard Avenue area. Other plans to improve the neighborhood include placing a monument sign at the entrance of Minnie Street, forming an owners’ association and hiring a gardener to do landscaping on both streets.

Bridges America Inc. agreed to join the owners association and to rehabilitate the buildings in order to get the loan. The group has estimated it will need $965,000 to purchase and rehabilitate the apartments and said it will apply for a conventional loan to make up the difference.