Tipton development site expands

Options for the potential purchase of an additional 43 acres near the intersection of U.S. 31 and Ind. 28 have been obtained by the Tipton County Economic Development Corp.

The property is being optioned for the possible placement of a $560 million automotive manufacturing facility that could bring 1,200 jobs to Tipton County.

Speculation has swirled for months that DaimlerChrysler and Getrag, a German manufacturing company, have been looking for a potential site in central Indiana to construct a new transmission assembly plant. Potential locations include Kokomo, Tipton County, Miami County, Frankfort and Lafayette.

Bill Keir, director of the Tipton County EDC, said Friday his organization closed two options for an additional 43 acres near the intersection.

The Tipton County EDC has already obtained options for the potential purchase of 188 acres.

Keir said the company requested some additional property to square up the site.

The Tipton County EDC doesn't have the money to complete the purchase of the property and doesn't have bonding authority to raise the funds, he said.

"The county would bond to buy the property," Keir said. "The county could own the property and lease it to the company or the company could be the owner of the property."

At the Tipton County Planning Commission meeting in December, it was reported that the owners were being paid $20,000 per acre for their land.

When asked if the cost of the land purchase was $4 million, Keir said he didn't know the specifics but knew it was more than $1 million.

In December the Tipton County Plan Commission and the Board of County Commissioners approved the rezoning of the 188 acres from residential/agriculture to industrial use.

Keir said the Tipton County EDC had not requested the rezoning of the additional 43 acres as of Friday.

"We will probably move forward with it," he said. "We already have the consent of the owners to rezone the property. The rezoning request will likely be done at the January or February meeting of the Plan Commission."