Big news came during a small gathering of representatives from Duke Realty, CSX Transportation and the City of Lebanon Tuesday morning at the Lebanon Business Park.
The trio announced the expansion of the business park by approximately 250 acres, while also adding the newest land’s designation as a CSX Select Site. These types of sites come ready to satisfy businesses’ requirements when selecting a place to build.
Conceived in 2010 by Lebanon and Duke Realty, the idea was to bring a rail spur or an offshoot for train cars to get on and off the existing CSX rail line for transportation service to the business park.
“In my mind this is the biggest event to happen to the business park since it started,” said Senior Vice President of Duke Realty Corp. Charlie Podell. “We formulated a plan to grow and develop to get clients to come here. Now, this is going to be icing on the cake.”
A $4 million venture between Lebanon and Duke Realty resulted in the agreement to build an offshoot of 1,500-feet of rail track in 2010. That stretch will offer flat switching, or the ability for train cars to come in and out of the park, because it will be a dual track. Buildings in the Select Site will have the ability to run the rail line from there to their building for ease of transportation purposes.
"We are thrilled to add the Lebanon Business Park site to CSX's Select Site program," said CSX Transportation Industrial Development Director Adam Hess in a press release. "Direct rail service provides a real competitive advantage to many businesses, and the combination of site readiness and Boone County's commitment to economic growth are key factors in attracting new jobs and investment to the area."
Executive Director of the Boone County Economic Development Corp. Molly Whitehead spoke before the city council Monday night to help expedite the incentive process for prospective businesses interested in the Select Site. With the first reading of Resolution 2016-04, or the Economic Revitalization Area resolution, on Monday, the council will entertain a motion to formally pass the act on its second reading, as well as hear from the public, during its next meeting on Aug. 22.
“This will streamline the process for potential businesses, as the resolution is for the entire 250-plus acres,” Whitehead said. “This way, we eliminate a step of the process of coming back to the council each time a new business is interested.”
Whitehead’s proactive approach fits with what the Select Site represents to potential businesses. Podell said this site’s “lined up for quick development, low risk, high impact rail users.”
Extensive research went into selecting this particular parcel as just the third CSX Select Site in Indiana. Conditions such as the park being buttressed by two state roads, SR 32 and SR 39, along with immediate interstate access, filled certain criteria. With most of the city being on the east side of I-65, it allows for easy ingress and egress into the park, with little traffic congestion.
But as The Austin Company’s, CSX’s Cleveland-based consulting firm, Jonathan Gemmen said a nine-page punch list allows them to “drill down and uncover everything.”
“When doing site certification for our clients we whittle it down to two or three sites, and at that point you’re down to one percent operating cost one way or the other, and it’s really apples to apples,” he said. “It comes down to quality of life and things like do the truckers not have to make a left turn with a red light. It comes to intangible decisions at that point.”
Kent Frandsen, a partner at Parr, Richey, Obremsky, Frandsen and Patterson who represents several businesses in the development, said to the city council in May that the park contributed 43.5 percent of the city’s property tax revenue. Frandsen predicted that number would grow based on abatements of the current business park tenants that would continue to expire, causing tax revenue to increase.
“We’ve made a lot of investments in the business park and to be honest, the way the city is functioning today, we could not function without the help of the business park,” said Lebanon Mayor Matt Gentry.
The addition of 250 acres with the incentive of rail service for potential clients, will potentially add to the existing property tax revenue.
Whitehead said there is already interest in the site, though she declined to confirm who the potential client is at this time or how much land that company is interested in, but told the council "this particular company is pretty much ready to go and is very interested in Lebanon." She said they would likely reveal the name following the council’s decision on the ERA resolution July 22.
“Today is definitely an exciting day, and it’s been a long road to get here,” Gentry said. “As (Podell) said, the process was over 10 years ago. I’m the beneficiary, and the one that gets to sit up here and thank everyone for all their hard work. It really is exciting for Lebanon.”