Halfwassen obtains control of INland Logistics Port in La Porte County

"Now, as far as we're concerned, it's full steam ahead," said La Porte County Commissioner Dave Decker in a press release Monday. "We happen to have full confidence that the Halfwassen Group has made the right ties in the refrigerated food industry as well as connections with well-funded equity investors and CSX to pull this together."

La Porte County has $6 million at stake in the property.

In the press release, the Halfwassen Group said it obtained full control of the more than 200-acre "owner parcel," otherwise known at the INland Logistics Port, in the KIP multi-modal development. This parcel was allegedly the key to the planned development of the rail service.

According to a previous story in The La Porte County Herald-Argus, the INland Logistics Port was planned to be a 625-acre dual rail served logistics park providing rail and truck access to the Upper Midwest, reaching some 41 million people in a day's drive.

In 2012, the industrial development manager for CSX Railway said his company planned to extend more than a mile of track from the site to the CSX east/west main line, giving La Porte access to 70 ports and all the major consumption zones east of the Mississippi.

At the time, officials noted that the site already had water and sewer, a major NIPSCO substation, roads and a rail spur, which the county's money was essential for installing.

But the Halfwassen Group and the Mikes/McGrath Group, both members of the INland Logistics Port, became embroiled in litigation for months and were unable to properly market the property.

But on Monday, the Halfwassen Group said it obtained an order of foreclosure in November 2014 against its former joint venture partners, and, on Feb. 20, obtained a deed for the parcel at a sheriff's sale, effectively ending the litigation, which tied the project up for more than a year.

According to Halfwassen partner Brent Halfwassen, the project has the potential to bring "significant new jobs and economic opportunity to La Porte County."

In the release, Halfwassen also noted that it re-worked the proposed layout for the CSX Select Site in Kingsbury to minimize crossings of Hupp Road and accommodate manifest train and unit train service. The refrigerated rail car unit train service from a Florida port will provide for perishable fruits and vegetables to be delivered directly to the Midwest.

La Porte County Office of Economic Development Director Dave Christian said his office has also commissioned a team to complete the necessary surveys and obtain the necessary landowner consents to bring Hupp Road into the county inventory of roads.

"La Porte County is all-in with this project," he said in the release. "We've invested considerable sums to provide a climate for private investment to flourish out there and now it's time for that to proceed."

Halfwassen also said there have been on-site meetings to finalize plans for the rail service. These meetings were attended by CSX's director of marketing, the director for sales and its industrial developments manager.