The following report is from a piece in The Elkhart Truth comes from Jordan Fouts.
County officials signaled their intent to grant financial incentives to a $200 million distribution warehouse, though the company behind it remains unknown.
The Elkhart County Council on Saturday passed a declaratory resolution for “Project Winnie,” a distribution center planned for the Elkhart East Industrial Park. The warehouse would have a ground floor of around 900,000 square feet and a height of 120 feet, according to Scott Sanders, vice president of development for Ambrose Property Group.
“Most folks would ask the question, why is a distribution facility 120 feet tall?” he said while presenting the request. “The feedback is simple: There’s levels and levels of state-of-the-art, high-tech equipment … that will be around the $100 million investment range just for the personal property equipment.”
The logistics company is requesting a tax phase-in for the real estate, which also represents an investment of around $100 million. Sanders told council he is under a non-disclosure agreement and could not name the company that will use the facility, which could employ 1,000 people and see delivery traffic coming and going throughout the day.
He said the land north of the RV Hall of Fame was chosen after a wide search for a suitable location.
“The project started months ago as a multistate, multimarket search. We searched all across the Midwest to find land sites that would be fitting for this type of investment, this type of development, and frankly have a strong labor force that can feed a project like this,” Sanders said. “We honed in on the Elkhart East property … for a couple reasons. First and foremost, the county had clearly put a ton of planning into this area and had anticipated growth and buildings such as the one that we’re trying to plan.”