HANCOCK COUNTY — A commission in charge of special tax funds has approved up to $1.5 million in infrastructure improvements aiding the development of several large move-in-ready buildings.
The Hancock County Redevelopment Commission voted unanimously in favor of the allocation earlier this month. It will fund improvements to Buck Creek Road near West County Road 200N as well as water and sanitary sewer lines to a site on which Red Rock Investment Partners, LLC is planning the structures.
The development consists of four speculative buildings, meaning their occupants have yet to be determined. Totaling about 2.2 million square feet and an investment of about $135 million, they’re slated for the east and west sides of Buck Creek Road north of West County Road 200N, near Brybelly.
Brian Szymanski, director of national projects for Indianapolis-based KSM Location Advisors, said at the redevelopment commission meeting that the buildings will create an estimated 1,100 full-time jobs.
“This is spec development, but that is what the anticipation is,” Szymanski said.
Randy Sorrell, executive director of the Hancock Economic Development Council, told the Daily Reporter that the improvements to Buck Creek Road will include widening and strengthening.
“It’s a great county road for passengers, but it’s certainly not truck traffic-worthy,” Sorrell said.
Citizens Energy Group will serve the water lines, and Aqua Indiana will serve the sewer lines.
The county redevelopment commission oversees the tax increment financing districts throughout unincorporated Hancock County. When a TIF district is created, the amount of taxes generated there up to that point continue going to all of the usual sources, while taxes generated by new development after that point can get set aside for redevelopment commissions to use for improvements in the district.
Red Rock Investment Partners’ site is in a location eyed for a new TIF district that’s partway through its approval process involving multiple boards, votes and a public hearing.
The redevelopment commission’s resolution approving the $1.5 million indicates the allocation will come from an abutting existing TIF district. If the new district is created, funds generated from it will reimburse the other, according to the resolution.
Lisa Lee, a lawyer with Indianapolis-based Ice Miller and the redevelopment commission’s counsel, told members that the funds can come from the existing district, as the improvements would serve it too.
“From a legal perspective, that’s not an issue,” Lee said.
John Jessup, a Hancock County commissioner, said one matter delaying the finalization of the new TIF district is determining how its incremental tax revenue would be distributed to schools and public safety.
He added that doesn’t keep him or his fellow commissioners from supporting Red Rock Investment Partners’ development, however.
“All three commissioners want to see this project happen and hope that you will approve this resolution,” he told members before their vote.
The Hancock County Council approved a 10-year tax abatement last year for the project as well, through which no real property taxes will be owed in the first year before they’re gradually phased in over the years that follow.
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Spec building development
- Four buildings
- 2.2 million square feet
- $135 million
- East and west sides of Buck Creek Road north of West County Road 200N
- 1,100 full-time jobs estimated
- Red Rock Investment Partners, LLC of of Columbia, South Carolina, and Charlotte, North Carolina
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