While reviewing the 2022 budgets, the Warsaw Redevelopment Commission Monday heard about the Marketplace of Warsaw being in receivership and a half million dollar grant the city can access to help clean up the Arnolt Corp., Gate Corp. and Warsaw Chemical area.
Warsaw Community Economic and Development Director Jeremy Skinner brought the Marketplace, 2804 Frontage Road, and grant up while presenting the budget for the Winona Interurban TIF district, one of seven Redevelopment budgets.
At the beginning of 2021, the TIF district had a balance of $60,865 with a $50,000 budget for this year. For 2022, the expected revenue is $8,500, and the budget is $25,000.
“So based on the money that we have available, there’s $50,000 in this budget, but that doesn’t necessarily mean we’re going to spend it. We’ve allocated it to a couple different projects – Arnolt and Gatke – so it’s there to be spent on those projects if something were to come to fruition. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to be spent,” Skinner said.
Assuming the money is spent, there will be about $25,000 available for 2022, which Skinner split into $10,000 for engineering and $15,000 for capital outlays.
“It’ll give us some flexibility. We may have to move some money around depending on what may transpire next year. We do have a couple of obviously abnormal projects we’re trying to get through the IHCDA (Indiana Housing & Community Development Authority). We’re in discussions with the developer on the Gatke site. We have ongoing discussions with Warsaw Chemical and what their future looks like, some of their facilities,” Skinner said.
He said the TIF district was expanded a couple years ago to include the Marketplace shopping center that was foreclosed on and is in receivership now.
“So it’s on the market, up for sale. That’s in the district, so there could be potential project there,” Skinner said.
City Councilman and Redevelopment member Mike Klondaris asked, “That whole shopping center where the BMV is? The whole thing?”
Skinner said yes. “It went into receivership a few months back. They’re actively seeking a buyer for it now. From what I understand, they’ve got four or five interested parties so we’ll see what transpires,” he said, noting it could be a couple of weeks. It’s been in the “process” for three months.
Looking back at the Winona Interurban budget for 2022, Klondaris asked if most of the money was going into the Arnolt project. The project includes Real America converting the Arnolt property at 2525 E. Durbin St., which the city owns currently, into a multi-family housing development, depending on the IHCDA providing financial assistance.
Skinner said most of it was going toward legal services and ongoing discussion with Warsaw Chemical and on the Arnolt property.
“So, I guess I didn’t say this,” he said. “So, a couple weeks ago, we did get awarded, through the (Indiana Finance Authority) a half million dollars in EPA funds for the Arnolt, Gatke and Warsaw Chemical sites. So, the IFA, on our behalf, in discussions with them, applied for additional EPA fund. The EPA has so much money, they give grants away, some of that money doesn’t get spent, comes back to them, they give additional grants. So entities can apply for those grants. The state applied for those grants on our behalf because of projects we are doing with the Arnolt, Warsaw Chemical, in trying to get those brownfields back to productive properties. They felt like that was a good grant for them to go after. They went after it, they were awarded it. So we have a pot of money at the state that we can go after to clean up the Arnolt, Warsaw Chemical and Gatke site.”
A brownfield is a property, the expansion, redevelopment or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant, according to the EPA website.
The city now has to determine what it wants to use the grant money for. If Real America does get a grant from the IHCDA, Skinner said a lot of that grant money probably will be used to clean up the Arnolt site, demolish the buildings and get rid of any contaminants on the property.
“Depending on what happens, some of it could go toward Warsaw Chemical or Gatke,” Skinner said. They just need to decide what direction they want to go in.
Redevelopment Commission President Tim Meyer asked if they had to have a specific project in process in order to get the $500,000 grant. Skinner said, “We have to come to them with a project. And that project can be as simple as us saying, ‘We want to demolish Arnolt property and clean up containments.’ It doesn’t have to be that we have to have something that’s going to fill that void. But we have to come and say, ‘This is what we’re going to do with this money.’ And it has to be brownfield related. It has to be actual clean-up related.”
He said it could be used to clean up the Gatke property, as well, and they do have some flexibility. Skinner said he thinks the Arnolt property, however, will be the “target” of the funds, and they’re really “hopeful” that they’ll get the IHCDA money for the Real America housing development project.
Skinner said projects take time.
“It’s like the shopping center. It’s been on its way down. I’m hoping that the new entity that owns the shopping center will be willing to come to us and say, ‘What can we do? How can we help them create something better?’ We’ve had a lot of discussion with those developers, and I’m encouraged by those discussions, and maybe they’ll come to the table with something other than just buying this on the cheap end and then turning around and leasing it out.”
Klondaris said, “And bring some anchor stores with them.”
The other 2022 budgets were then reviewed and unanimously approved, including Redevelopment General, $315,000; Northern Residential TIF, $150,000; Warsaw Technology Park, $1,217,000; Southern Residential TIF, $70,000; Northern TIF District, $3,874,098; and Redevelopment Allocation, $723,500.
Earlier in the meeting, while reviewing claims for June, Meyer asked for more information on the $19,760 claim from DLZ, South Bend, for U.S. 30 alignment study services rendered.
Skinner explained, “So it’s a draft red flag study that we’re conducting on what U.S. 30 looks like through Warsaw. It’s identifying potential red flags if they stay on route (or go another route) and what are the challenges. So then we can share that with the public.”
He said they’re going to have a stakeholder meeting probably in the next month and then some public meetings on what the future of U.S. 30 looks like. “But we wanted enough information so that we can share what does that impact look like, what are the red flags, what are the hurdles,” Skinner said.
Meyer asked how that was part of the Redevelopment Commission.
“Because the Northern TIF goes along U.S. 30,” Skinner said. “It’s going to be significantly impacted.”
Jeremy Mullins, Warsaw School Board representative to the Redevelopment Commission, said whatever their suggestion ends up being to the Indiana Department of Transportation is just a suggestion. “They’re not going to do what we ask just because we’re such great people,” he said.
Skinner said he was right, but if the community supports significant direction, INDOT will take that into consideration. The process will still take years.
