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City Council, RDC agree to keep moving forward with project
A joint meeting of the Greencastle City Council and Greencastle Redevelopment Commission has resulted in a joint agreement to keep moving forward on the proposed wellness center/community center/YMCA project.
”I’d like to get a sense of the group tonight,” Mayor Bill Dory said during the Thursday night session at City Hall. “If we’re not willing to move forward, the project would basically die tonight.”
For the first time, city, YMCA and Putnam County Hospital officials all got a look at proposed costs for facility to be built on land (72.3 acres in all) purchased from the Ballard family east of the Walmart Supercenter along the south side of State Road 240.
The projected total cost is $28,350,000 -- $23,186,000 for the community center/YMCA portion and $5,165,000 for the medical office building section of the facility.
Those costs are significantly higher than the $14 million projected in the pre-Covid days of 2019. But that was also a rough estimate on a facility that then included just two gyms.
“The third gym and the craziness of construction costs” can be blamed for the increase in price, Mayor Dory said.
The third gym is something the community expressed a desire for during feedback, Ryan Penrod of the Wabash Valley YMCA noted. “There seems to be an interest in volleyball, basketball and pickleball,” he said.
Financial adviser Emma Adlam of Baker Tilly Municipal Advisers, Indianapolis, offered four scenarios for funding the project, with the chosen method coming through funds from the TIF (tax increment financing) district administered by the RDC and including a cash contribution of $14 million and a bond issue.
Taking stock of RDC members’ opinions, Chairman Erika Gilmore looked down the row of chairs at Lottie Barcus, Brian Cox, Gary Lemon and Gwen Morris and saw nothing but nodding heads and thumbs up.
“All of us are still very much committed,” she said, noting the thumbs up, “so Redevelopment’s in.”
Likewise, members of the City Council remained behind it, save Cody Eckert, who suggested it might be better to spend the money on other city projects.
“It’s not going to get any cheaper to borrow,” Councilor Veronica Pejril suggested. “It’s not going to get any cheaper to build.”
Completion of the project is for the “public good,” Pejril said. “We owe it to our community.”
RDC member Lemon agreed. “It’s now or never,” he said, echoing comments he has made in the past.
The approval process will likely take 2-1/2 months to complete, beginning with RDC considering a resolution on the matter at its 5:30 p.m. Wednesday meeting. The City Council will need to do the same with a public hearing to follow as the legal process to sell bonds continues.
The city, Wabash Valley YMCA and Putnam County Hospital are all involved in the approximately 60,000-square-foot project. The city will own the facility and lease spaces to the YMCA and the hospital.
Mayor Dory noted that the city has yet to finalize the lease agreements with the YMCA or Putnam County Hospital.
PCH Administrator Dennis Weatherford said his board had yet to see the $5.1 million figure for the medical office portion of the project.
Once it does and gives its approval, “then we’re all moving forward on parallel pathways,” Weatherford added.
An 18-month construction period is anticipated on the project with groundbreaking now likely coming next spring.