DaVita Dialysis accepting patients, Jacobsville area improving

EVANSVILLE, IN (WFIE) - It looks a lot different on North Main Street since about $14-million of work has gone into improving it.

There is new life to an empty building at 800 North Main Street in Evansville. DaVita Dialysis is open and already seeing a steady flow of patients.

"Do we want this empty building sitting here," Department of Metropolitan Development Executive Director Kelley Coures said. "Or, do we want it to potentially become the worlds largest smoke shop? Well, the answer to that is no. So we went ahead and bought the whole property, bought the building, bought the lot."

After about one and a half million dollars of renovations to the former CVS building. DaVita Dialysis Center now sits in its place.

"We are starting to see our numbers grow," Facility Administrator Kali Smith said. "I am super excited. I think it's great. There are a lot of patients that live close to here. It's worked out really well for them."

"The Jacobsville neighborhood that you see around you in 2004 was declared an EPA Superfund site," Coures said. "Lots of contamination and we understood from our DaVita associates, this is an area of high renal disease."

Another reason city officials say the facility is needed in the area.

Department of Metropolitan Development officials also says the city plans to sell the property soon.