GREENFIELD — A 150-unit family apartment complex, combined with a four-story parking garage and 16,500 square feet of retail space, is under consideration for downtown Greenfield.
Greenfield City Council heard a proposal for the project at the Jan. 22 council meeting.
While members weren’t asked to formally approve the project that evening, they did vote 5-0 to allow city administrators to continue working with the developer, The Ridge Group of Muncie, to nail down the details.
Council member Amy Kirkpatrick was absent, and council member Thomas Moore refrained from voting due to his personal business interest in the project.
The Ridge Group seeks to build the mixed-use complex between South and Osage streets, just east of Pennsylvania Street — one block south and west of the downtown’s main intersection at State and Main streets. It also spoke with the council in April 2024 about such a project.
The city owns a one-acre parcel at 101 W. South St. and two .34-acre parcels east of Pennsylvania Street and north of Mill Street.
Sandwiched between them, at 121 S. Pennsylvania St., is the building housing Team Image Apparel. Its owner is listed as 121 S. Penn LLC, with an address of 1043 W. U.S. 40. The owner of the building on U.S. 40 is listed as Premium Investments LLC, with an address that matches Thomas’ home address.
The east side of the development would border an existing alleyway a half-block west of State Road 9.
The paved, 10-foot-wide Pennsy Trail, which bisects the site of the proposed development, would not be altered.
The project would be built in partnership with the city, which would swap land with the developer to build a city-owned 300-space parking garage, which would be “wrapped” by residential and retail space built by the developer.
“Aside from a couple of fire and building demolitions, this is the most game-changing downtown redevelopment project in downtown Greenfield in the past 40 years,” said Buzz Krohn of Krohn & Associates, a longtime consultant for the city.
For the city’s part, the parking garage is estimated to cost $10.5 million, which Krohn said could be funded by a TIF bond payable from the city’s existing annual TIF revenue stream, which is currently $4.1 million per year.
Krohn said the The Ridge Group would invest approximately $38.5 million into the downtown development, partnering with Indiana Economic Development Council and the City of Greenfield for gap funding.
Any gap funding obligation with the city would be payable solely from TIF funds allocated from taxes generated by the project, he said, with a portion of that funding coming back to the city in the form of impact and utility development fees.
Krohn said the projected TIF revenue from the project would amount to $500,000 per year after the full buildout.
That’s good news for the city, he said, since its redevelopment commission continues to make $500,000 in bond payments each year for water utility bonds that no longer benefit from allocated TIF funds, which sunsetted, or retired, in 2023.
The TIF funds generated by a portion of the city’s North Economic Development Area will also sunset by 2033, with the remainder of the consolidated area sunsetting by 2040, he said.
Krohn said the proposed $10.5 million parking garage would require the city to pay about $1.1 million a year of TIF funds for 14 years, said Krohn.
How the public reacts to the proposed development remains to be seen.
When asked about the project, downtown resident Tom Strickland, a longtime member of Greenfield Historic Landmarks, voiced concerns over how such a large structure would impact the area, which he said is known for its historically rich architecture.
“I can’t envision how a boxy four-story building would blend in with and probably visually dominate the mix of existing structures of various residential and commercial styles,” said Strickland, whose first home as a child was just across the street from the proposed development.
“I think more community input needs to happen before they make a final decision (on moving forward),” he said.