The following is a report from The Elkhart Truth.
Further development of the Elkhart East Business Park could pave the way new businesses and tens of millions of dollars in investments over the next decade, project planners say.
Almac Inc. plans to develop 116 acres on the north side of county Road 4, between county Roads 15 and 17, to prepare that part of the industrial park for potential new construction. Ken Jones, president of consulting firm Jones Petrie Rafinski, said the new area would be designed for a mix of building sizes, from 25,000 square feet to 400,000 square feet.
“Right now, in our rudimentary inventory, there are no available sites for a 100,000-square-foot development prospect available. There may be a few vacant sites still out there, but those are spoken for,” he told the Elkhart County Redevelopment Commission on Thursday. “At this point in time, we are wanting to advance this project as quickly as we can, because we do have a prospect for the first site and it’s somewhere in the investment area of between $30 million to $40 million on that first project, probably a 275,000- to 300,000-squarefoot building.” The board voted to form a development agreement to use tax increment finance funds to help repay 75% of the upfront costs for the construction of water and sewer utilities and new roads, which are estimated at $3.5 million. Half of the new tax value generated by land improvements will go toward repayment, which could be reached in about three years.
The estimated value of all new industrial buildings that could go up in that area of the park is between $65 million and $124 million, according to Jones. The total value of all public and private investments could add up to nearly $132 million, he said.
The business park near the Indiana Toll Road is around 1,400 acres overall, and Jones noted that JPR has been involved in much of the business development on either side of county Road 17. Development began in Area D, at the southwest corner of county Road 6 and county Road 17.
“We started in 1999, 2000, in the early stages of planning and the project has been pretty successful. I’d like to see it go a little faster,” Jones said. “The concept here is trying to race to prepare development pads.”
He said the area slated for improvement, Area A in the northwest corner of the park, has already been annexed by Elkhart and rezoned from farmland to industrial use. Designs for the infrastructure improvements are underway.
He said they’d like to start construction as soon as possible.
“As soon as the City of Elkhart approves our engineering plans, we’re going to put that project out to bid and begin construction. Of course, we’d like to have an agreement in place with the redevelopment commission before that happens,” he said. “Project schedule, I would say probably about this time next year we should be wrapping up.”
By the time the third phase of development is completed, there would be an estimated square footage of 855,000 available among 20 or more individual sites, according to Jones. He added that they would continue to ensure the protection of wetland area near the site, which was transferred to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources as a public trust.
He described Almac Inc., a sister company to Northland Corp., which was founded in 1969, as a prolific developer with a portfolio of around 2,600 acres of business park land altogether. He said this would be only its second request for financial incentives over the years.
“All the other developments have all been self-funded, and that includes roads, streets, sewer, water, drainage facilities, all of those things, (but assistance is) probably more necessary now than it has ever been, just due to the extreme impact of the recent inflationary period on infrastructure,” Jones said. “Although you and I, at our home and in the grocery store, have seen about 8% or 11% maybe, somewhere in that neighborhood, infrastructure projects are somewhere around 25%. It is very difficult to advance these projects right now, thus the request.”
Board members expressed excitement for the project and unanimously voted to pursue an agreement with the developer.
“All the investment in Elkhart East, it’s been amazing to watch over the decades, and the quality that has gone into it,” said RDC member Jon Hunsberger. “It is exciting, quite honestly, the resolve of the developer at this point, and it is a big risk. We’re not seeing a lot of risk going on out there.”
Read the full article by Jordan Fouts from the Elkhart Truth here. Note there is a paywall.