A Monroe County builder is constructing $250,000 homes. Find out where.

A Monroe County home builder has constructed homes he is selling for less than $250,000. He had hoped to build such homes in Monroe County, but he built them about a half-hour drive from Bloomington, in Greene County.

The 12-acre site near Newberry has space for up to 120 units, with 1,200-square-foot, 3-bedroom, two-bathroom ranch homes selling for $248,000. The biggest unit, an 1,800-square-foot ranch with the same number of bed- and bathrooms and a two-car garage sells for $290,000.

Tom Wininger, whose family has built homes in Monroe County for three generations, tried to build 190 similar paired townhomes just south of Bloomington, but county commissioners last year rejected a rezoning request in part because they thought the homes were too dense for the county.

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“Everybody in Greene County has been really good to work with,” Wininger said this week.

Wininger said he received support and encouragement from Greene County commissioners, economic development, the redevelopment commission, electric and water companies and others.

The builder bought the land for $10,000 per acre and has plans to purchase another 22 acres. The land is part of WestGate@Crane Technology Park, a shovel-ready park that covers parts of Greene, Martin and Daviess counties.

The residential site sits near the Greene/Daviess counties border, just east of a fire station, north of a soybean field and near grain silos and the Scotland water tower.

On Tuesday, Latin music blended with the knocking of hammers and the screams of saws as workers put up drywall at a ranch-style paired townhome. Next door, in a two-story paired townhome, electricians were connecting power. Stacks of drywall lay in a garage. Wooden beams rested in the dirt nearby. Wininger said the homes are being built by the same crews he is employing for his Monroe County developments.

Home prices have risen sharply across in the country in the last few years, especially during the pandemic, but based on a Herald-Times analysis of home prices and income data, Monroe and neighboring Owen counties in May were the least affordable markets in the state for homebuyers. Rent prices, too, have risen sharply in Bloomington, with less than 10% of rentals going for less than $1,000 per month.

The median home price in Monroe County in June was $311,750, up 7.5% compared to June of 2021, according to the Indiana Association of Realtors. The median price was the seventh-highest in the state.

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Greene County officials: More homes needed

In Greene County, the median home price in June had risen 16.7% compared to a year earlier, but the price still remained in the lower half of the state, at $175,000. Nonetheless, county officials said Greene County, too, needs more homes.

Brianne Jerrels, executive director of the Greene County Economic Development Corp., said Wininger approached Greene County officials last summer to inquire about potential locations for housing developments. The officials showed him the tech park, in part because it already included infrastructure. The Green County Redevelopment Commission owned the land. And Greene County does not have local zoning laws, meaning Wininger was not going to run into opposition from commissioners.

The site of Wininger’s Greene County development is about a two-mile drive from Interstate 69. According to Google Maps, it takes about 34 minutes to drive from there to Catalent’s campus in Bloomington.

John Mensch, president of the Greene County Redevelopment Commission, said the tech park’s location, about halfway between Indianapolis and Evansville, makes it ideal for development. Lots of businesses there support the nearby Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane, but its quick access to Interstate 69 also allows for easy commutes to nearby cities, including Bloomington.

The park includes about 50 companies with 850 employees that pay average annual wages exceeding $80,000, Mensch said. Many of the more rural south-central Indiana counties employ many people at Crane and supporting businesses.

Mensch is a retired naval intelligence officer who also serves as president of the WestGate@Crane Authority. His wife and father-in-law retired from the base.

Monroe County development rejected

Wininger last year sought a zoning change for property he owns near Clear Creek Elementary School in Bloomington so that he could build 190 paired townhomes. Building those types of homes, which share a wall — rather than stand-alone single-family homes — would have allowed him to keep down costs and target employees of Cook and Catalent, he said. He had paid $54,000 per acre to acquire the land.

However, Monroe County commissioners rejected the rezoning request, in part because they thought the development, about 2.5 miles south of Catalent's Bloomington campus, was too dense to be built outside Bloomington city limits. They also said they thought Cook and Catalent employees would not be able to afford the homes. Medical device maker Cook last year boosted its minimum wage to $15, but said it was struggling to fill open positions. Drug maker Catalent raised its minimum wage to $20 per hour and said it planned to hire 1,000 additional workers in Bloomington in the next few years.

Townhome development rejected A developer's plan to build 190 paired townhomes near Clear Creek Elementary was rejected

Commissioners rejected Wininger's rezoning request even though it received a 5-4 positive recommendation from the Monroe County Plan Commission and was supported by the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce and Cook Group President Pete Yonkman, who said the development would allow more of the company’s employees to live in Monroe County rather than having to commute.

When people work in Monroe County but live elsewhere, it reduces local tax collections, because income taxes get distributed to the county/city of residence. The Bloomington City Council in May hiked the local income tax by 0.69 percentage points. The hike will mean an extra $345 or so per year in income taxes for individuals or couples who, after varying deductions, have a state adjusted gross income of $50,000.

Wininger is now building single-family homes near the Clear Creek school. At the low end, the homes sell for $400,000.

Density not a concern in Greene County

Housing density did not come up as a concern in Greene County, though Jerrels said that’s likely a function, at least partially, of the housing development being in an established tech park.

“It’s only been positive feedback that I’ve heard,” she said.

Monroe County's population density, at 340 residents per square mile, also is about six times as high as Greene County's, at 56 per square mile.

Mensch said he hopes the homes Wininger is building will spur light commercial development, such as restaurants, a convenience store or truck stop. All of that will broaden the county’s tax base, he said.

Jerrels said increased density also may help Greene County tackle one of its biggest problems to attracting more residents: The lack of high-speed internet services for remote workers.

Greene County officials generally welcome all types of residential developments, whether single-family homes, townhomes or duplexes, she said.

“We’re not going to be too picky because everybody needs housing,” Jerrels said..

Reach reporter Boris Ladwig at bladwig@heraldt.com.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Monroe County builder moves project to another county after rejection