Indiana company eyeing land next to Mooresville shell building
MOORESVILLE — An Indiana company has expressed interest in land next to a shell building that was recently purchased by a logistics company.
The Mooresville Redevelopment Commission signed a deal in April with Dawson Logistics to sell the 75,000 square foot shell building at the intersection of State Road 67 and Merriman Road for $4.9 million.
RDC President Dustin Stanley said Thursday that an Indiana company with ties to Dawson Logistics has expressed interest in utilizing a portion of the 90-acre parcel next to the building.
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"We have new players that are very interested," Stanley said. "They're already in Indiana. They just want to consolidate."
Stanley made the comments shortly after the redevelopment commission's meeting Thursday, but declined to name the interested parties.
The site had once planned to be the location of a 760,000 square foot Nice-Pak facility, but the $165 million project was abandoned, with the COVID-19 pandemic named as a factor in the company's decision to pull out of the agreement.
Dawson Logistics, an Illinois-based company that specializes in logistics for biopharmaceutical companies, plans to bring 25 jobs to the Mooresville area.
Annual report
Sam Schrader, of financial consulting firm BakerTilly, presented the commission's state-mandated annual report, which includes information about its budget, debt obligations and long-term economic development plans.
The RDC currently holds about $19 million in outstanding debt, and it brought in just over $2.5 million from tax-increment financing or TIF dollars in 2021, according to the report.
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Tax-increment financing is a tool used by municipalities to capture future tax dollars from increased development. Projects that have been funded with TIF revenues include a new police station, the Mooresville shell building, gateway projects and the TOA expansion.
The majority of the RDC's debt does not have to be paid off until 2039.
Police
Scott Hamilton, a reserve officer with the Mooresville Metropolitan Police Department, presented the commission with a $148,000 project to build a fence behind the police station and make improvements in preparation for a future outbuilding.
An electronically-operated fence would help improve security, he said. It would also allow the department to impound vehicles.
The commission's financial consultant, Chelsey Manns, said the commission's economic development plan would need to be amended to include the project, a 60-day process that requires publishing legal notices and holding public hearings.
"It's not the cheapest process," she said. "It's a lot of legal time."
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Stanley, who also serves on Mooresville Town Council, said he did not consider it an economic development project and believed the town should pay for it.
The commission agreed to table the issue until it could hear from its attorney, Adam Steuerwald, who was not present at Thursday's meeting.
In other business
Manns reported the commission received $242,000 from Nice-Pak to cover out-of-pocket expenses related to the abandoned economic development project.
The commission welcomed its newest member, Erin Pipkin, who was appointed by town council in March but could not attend the April meeting.
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Morgan County is still seeking public input on its broadband survey, Manns said. The survey is available at https://arcg.is/1u0jq40.
The next meeting of the Mooresville Redevelopment Commission is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Monday, June 13, at the Mooresville Government Center, 4 E. Harrison St., Mooresville. The meeting was moved from its normally scheduled first Thursday of the month due to scheduling conflicts among commission members.
Contact reporter Peter Blanchard at 765-346-2942 or pblanchard@reporter-times.com. Follow him on Twitter @peterlblanchard.
This article originally appeared on The Reporter Times: Mooresville development: Indiana company eyes land next to shell building
