City approves land acquisition for community center

Thursday, March 21, 2019

In a major step toward seeing a long-proposed community center project come to fruition, the Greencastle Redevelopment Commission Wednesday approved acquisition of 73.26 acres of vacant property on the city’s East Side.

The commission voted unanimously to approve purchase of property stretching from Ballard Lane on the east to the Walmart Distribution Center on the west, south of State Road 240 and north of the existing homes.

The site is being acquired from the Ballard and Sturgeon families and their three trusts.

Purchase price was disclosed as $1.4 million, which was noted as less than the average of the two appraisals done on the property as required when a municipality or its emissary is acquiring real estate.

The funds involved are Redevelopment Commission dollars generated through the city’s East Side TIF district.

“It’s money we’ve been saving up for this,” Mayor Bill Dory told the Banner Graphic.

Dory added that the westernmost parcel of 21.85 acres being acquired (technically as a donation from the Ballard and Sturgeon families) is likely to be marketed for resale and provides “a chance to recoup some of that ($1.4 million)” through its eventual sale. That acreage is immediately south of the Walmart store.

The site being acquired also includes frontage along State Road 240 from Calbert Way to the Farm Credit property at the corner of State Road 240 and Ballard Lane.

The property also includes two rights-of-way from Calbert Way (where it currently dead-ends just inside the easternmost Walmart store entrance) and Ballard Parkway, west off Ballard Lane.

The commission approved the contract to purchase the property on a motion by Gwen Morris, a second from Gary Lemon and additional votes for approval from Lottie Barcus and Drew Brattain. Redevelopment Commission President Erika Gilmore was absent.

”We hope to do the closing within the next week or so, maybe two,” City Attorney Laurie Hardwick advised.

A second motion authorizes Mayor Dory to sign further documents in the acquisition process.

The property being acquired is north of the Sturgeon residence and its adjoining property, which includes a pond that will become jointly owned by the city and the Sturgeons.

The city has no intention of creating any kind of recreational area out of that pond, it was noted. A statement to that effect could be included in the covenants of the deed, Hardwick suggested.

“The ‘Y’ won’t even be close to it,” Hardwick said of where the pond fits into the total property picture.

“People don’t go back there now,” she added, noting that the city nonetheless will post the pond site as no trespassing and may have to erect a fence “if it becomes an issue.”

A buffer of evergreens has also been suggested by the Sturgeons along the north side of their property, the city attorney said.

The Ballard-Sturgeon property was one of at least three sites that had been under consideration as a possible community center location over the past 18 months.

During a 2017 meeting, it was reported that sites being explored were Big Walnut Sport Park, the old Jones School property on the west side of Greencastle and a location “generally on the East Side.” The latter, as it turns out, has emerged as the choice.

According to figures previously made public in the ongoing community center discussion, the project is likely to require 6-9 months of design and bidding, followed by 12-14 months of construction. Size of the facility has been suggested as 30,000 to 35,000 square feet with enough room left for future growth and adequate parking.

Construction cost figures -- predicted at $200 per square foot -- have been estimated at $8-$10 million on such a facility.

Although no official action on YMCA involvement has been taken by the City of Greencastle or the Wabash Valley YMCA Board of Directors -- other than an earlier memorandum of understanding -- the proposal continues to portray a facility built by the city and staffed and operated by the YMCA.

Meanwhile, the latest land acquisition is not the first time the Ballard family and City of Greencastle have been involved in a real estate deal.

Last May, Ballard family members Marilynn B. Sturgeon, Sara J. Niles and Philip L. Ballard -- children of the late Walter and Eleanor Ballard -- signed paperwork at City Hall, donating a small tract of land adjacent to the section of People Pathways that passes in front of the Walmart store (where the bench is located, east of the stoplight at Calbert Way) to become Ballard Family Park.

Consisting of 1.4 acres of partially wooded land along the south side of State Road 240, that parcel comprises the site where the Ballard family homeplace had stood until it was moved south to property along Ballard Lane near the Putnam County Airport.

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    One step closer. Good news.

    -- Posted by dreadpirateroberts on Fri, Mar 22, 2019, at 9:31 AM
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