MUNCIE — Nearly a year after officials first talked about plans to redevelop the former Indiana Steel and Wire property on Muncie's east side, principals in the project on Thursday detailed some elements of the proposal to the public for the first time.
During an "unveiling" Thursday morning in the Horizon Convention Center, officials from Mayor Dennis Tyler to representatives of the Indiana Department of Transportation spoke about the planned Kitselman Pure Energy Park.
Gary Dannar, who has said he wants to assemble Mobile Power Station vehicles on the site, spoke for about six minutes during the two-hour session, but much of the emphasis was not on the ultimate industrial tenants of the park but on the recreational and aesthetic possibilities, including a greenway trailhead and increased access to White River.
"It's a fantastic location and it's where we wanted to build our future Mobile Power Stations," Dannar said.
The project includes Dannar's assembly plant, a new Cardinal Greenway trailhead and new and relocated INDOT bridge that carries Ind. 32/East Jackson Street over White River.
Todd Donati, who as Muncie Redevelopment Commission director has spearheaded the project, noted that principals would go to Muncie City Council Monday evening to see $3.5 million for a bond to add infrastructure to the site and relocate Bunch Boulevard. Bunch Boulevard could be moved to the east, inside the development, this year, Donati said, and a 100,000-square-foot Dannar building could be up in 2017, with a city shell building and other development to follow.