MUNCIE — The city's east side, often overlooked for redevelopment compared to other parts of Muncie, could get a boost from a new shell building to attract economic development, officials say.
Muncie's north and west sides, home to commercial development and Ball State University, respectively, have seen growth and reinvestment in recent years, while the city invested almost $1.5 million in rebuilding Madison Street and installed a new traffic roundabout in an attempt to boost the city's south side.
But Muncie's east side, with a few commercial and industrial businesses along Ind. 32, has languished.
The east side's fortunes could get a boost if plans announced in April for Kitselman Pure Energy Park come to fruition. The city is encouraging businessman Gary Dannar to build Mobile Power Station vehicles at the site of the former Indiana Steel and Wire property, which has been empty for years. Also projected for the area are a new state highway bridge carrying Ind. 32 over railroad tracks, a new Cardinal Greenway trailhead and relocation of Bunch Boulevard to allow for improvements to the Muncie Sanitary District levee along White River.
Now the city is planning to introduce another component to an already-ambitious set of projects: A new economic development shell building to attract new industrial development.
Muncie Redevelopment Commission executive director Todd Donati said the MRC would begin planning for a new 100,000-square-foot shell building, expandable to 200,000-square-feet, at the Kitselman Park site.