The Herald Bulletin
ANDERSON - Madison Commons, a site near Interstate 69 and Scatterfield Road, has been declared shovel-ready for the development of retail businesses.
Developers and real estate marketers are selling the development as a 100-acre mixed-use area that will contain retailers and education, health and office uses, according to a release issued in April.
The development also would include an extension of Virgil Cook Boulevard, which runs east of Scatterfield Road to Hoosier Park Racing and Casino.
Anderson Board of Works Chairman Greg Graham said the shovel-ready process is a checklist produced by the state to ensure project areas are ready to be developed. City officials had to make sure the city could get utilities to the site and handle its sewage, among other requirements, before the site could be considered shovel-ready.
"Shovel-ready is an economic development concept," Graham said. "I think it's a good move. It just is another indication of how interested developers are in that corridor."
Seven sites, including Madison Commons, were designated shovel-ready on Wednesday. The state has designated 48 other sites as shovel-ready since 2006.