SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP): A company has announced it will begin work next month on a $9 million renovation to turn a 94-year-old former hotel in downtown South Bend into an apartment building.

Real America Development and Management of suburban Indianapolis is the third developer in four years to take on the project. The previous agreements fell through because of various financial and logistical reasons.

The deal calls for the city will invest $1.5 million in the building in order to prepare it for redevelopment. Real America will spend $7.5 million to turn the property into an apartment building with 67 market-rate units and 8,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space.

The nine-story building has been vacant since 2002.