It’s been 115 years since the Oliva was built in Joplin. A redeveloper provided an update Monday of bringing the building back to life. KRPS’s Fred Fletcher-Fierro has more.

This time next year, the Oliva Apartments near downtown Joplin could have new residents. The 5-story building was constructed in 1906, and caught fire in early December last year, badly damaging the roof. Sawyer Smith, co-owner of Blue Haven Homes of Joplin who purchased the Oliva earlier this year, provided an update on the project Monday at the Joplin City Council meeting. “I think the timeline we’re still looking good. We haven’t really run into any crazy surprises, nothing that jumped out. Or made us really worried. As far as we know, as far as we’re planning, we’re still on target to hit our deadline of I believe it was March of 2023 to be completely done with that entire project.”

In February of this year, the city council voted in favor of a $250,000 contract with Blue Haven to go towards redeveloping the Oliva. The company previously said they expect to spend about $6.5 million to rehab the building, which hasn’t been occupied since the 1990s.