Daviess County officials and the Indiana Department of Transportation appear to have struck another deal to purchase land for future development.
INDOT had declared the land as surplus following the construction of I-69 and the county, in conjunction with the Daviess County Economic Development Corporation, are working together to buy the land. The latest deal is for slightly less than 40 acres that is in four plots in the area of the I-69 and SR 58 interchange.
“We felt it would be a wise move to purchase this property both because of the price it is being offered at and the potential it holds,” said Ron Arnold, director of the Daviess County EDC.
The final price has not been set, but the EDC has set aside $60,000 for the deal and the County Council has approved an appropriation of $111,793.65 from the cumulative capital fund, and they expect to have some change left over when the final deal is completed.
“We don’t have those final numbers, but we have been told to expect they will be less than that,” said Arnold. “The price is one of the reasons we are buying it. We’re getting development sites at a bargain price.”
“I think it’s a great idea that we have the county involved with this,” said County Council President Mike Sprinkle. “The Economic Development Corporation will be able to control those properties which are primed for future growth. I feel certain we will put businesses in those area that will end up paying a lot of the tax base back to the county and that should lighten the future tax burden on everyone.”
The land parcels are not in one single piece. The largest is around 22 acres, another is almost an acre and a half directly on SR 58. There is also an 11-acre strip of land. “There’s no doubt this will take some work and we may need to make some deals and swap some land to get this developed,” said Arnold.
Even though the property is in a very rural area, there is plenty of infrastructure in the area to support development. Odon has water lines running through the area and Elnora’s sewer is hooked into the North Daviess School campus. There is also rail service nearby.
“The sewer and water is accessible,” said Sprinkle. “I foresee eateries and gas stations out there and who knows what else."
“You never know exactly what the area will attract,” said Arnold. “If we get some things that are big enough we might need to add to the sewer and water to that site. We are expecting it to turn into a combination of both commercial and industrial projects.”
East side of Washington
Besides the deal in northern Daviess County, the council took yet another step toward closing a deal to purchase 14 acres of land on the east side of Washington. The council approved a $396,000 appropriation out of the County Economic Development Income Tax toward completing the purchase of the property that once was home to the I-69 offices and before that headquarters for Daviess-Martin REMC.
The city of Washington is putting up $160,000 toward the purchase of that property that will be developed under the direction of the EDC.
“We have been approached by a lot of people to put together a development there,” said Arnold. “We really can’t do a lot until we get that deal done. I expect that to happen soon and as soon as we get control we will become very busy.”
“I think we could see a really nice hotel complex on that property in Washington,” added Sprinkle. “I expect we’ll see some major players come in to be a part of that development.”