Jeffersonville mayor on Jeffboat plan: 'The biggest project going on in the United States'

Jeffboat, the Southern Indiana facility that once stood as one of the largest inland shipbuilding sites in the country, has been closed for about four years.

Jeffersonville Mayor Mike Moore, though, sees a bright future for the blighted property – and it's already attracting a boatload of interest.

"Jeffboat is the biggest project going on in the United States," Moore told The Courier Journal on Wednesday. "We’ve had huge attention from developers across the country."

The City of Jeffersonville has partnered up with the American Commercial Barge Line to redevelop the 80-acre site along the Ohio River coastline, the two sides announced this week. The agreement will allow for the property directly across the river from Louisville to be developed into a new project Moore said could reshape the Jeffersonville riverfront.

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The site has sat vacant in recent years as other nearby areas in the Southern Indiana city have grown. Jeffboat closed in 2018 after nearly 200 years in business, but that doesn't mean conversations about its future haven't been happening behind the scenes, Moore said.

"We've been working with them for about three years trying to come up with a partnership to repurpose the land," said Moore, a member of the Jeffersonville Redevelopment Commission. "Times have changed, and what once used to be the largest inland shipbuilder has now become an extremely valuable piece of property along the Ohio River."

In a release, ACBL CEO Mike Ellis said Jeffboat has been an "integral part" of the local community since it opened, and the company is "excited about the redevelopment and repurposing of this site going forward."

Moore said the redevelopment is a "multi-billion-dollar" project that is set to take place over the course of the next 10 to 20 years, with an end goal of bringing more business to the bustling city.

Jeffersonville has a population of about 50,000 people according to 2021 U.S. Census data, and Moore said every one of them stands to gain from a redeveloped Jeffboat property – it could bring in an increased revenue stream for the city, allowing for more infrastructure spending and money for local schools.

"We've seen a huge influx of new business in Jeffersonville over the last year," he said. "Everybody is going to benefit from that. Whenever you get a revenue stream of that magnitude, the windfall is felt through the entire city, the entire region."

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Of course, the development agreement is just the first step. What will be built at the site remains to be seen.

The project, Moore said, could include an extension of Jeffersonville's Ohio River Greenway trail, an outdoor path along the waterfront that connects Jeffersonville with New Albany and Clarksville, two other Southern Indiana towns with waterfront views of Louisville.

ACBL will work with The Wheatley Group on a two-year assessment aimed at determining the best use of the property, according to a city release. Three town hall-style meetings where citizens will be able to weigh in on how they'd like to see the property used will also take place.

In his statement, Ellis said ACBL officials "believe the end result will be a transformational waterfront mixed-use space that ties into the other successes the City of Jeffersonville has completed on the waterfront and surrounding areas.” Jeffersonville has seen business bloom along the Ohio River coast in recent years, with the expansion accelerating after the 2014 opening of the Big Four Bridge, a pedestrian crossing between downtown Jeffersonville and Louisville's Waterfront Park.

The first town hall meeting will take place in January, with the planning process expected to span 10 months. Meanwhile, Moore – a lifelong Jeffersonville resident – said he hopes the land is used to build up a "beautiful little village that looks over the Ohio River."

Reach reporter Caleb Stultz at cstultz@courier-journal.com.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Jeffersonville to redevelop Jeffboat in major waterfront project