Pictured, from left, are Warsaw Community and Economic Development Director Jeremy Skinner and Warsaw Redevelopment Commission Member George Clemens. InkFreeNews photo by Liz Adkins.

By Liz Adkins
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — The Warsaw Redevelopment Commission approved a bid from an Albion-based contractor for the Petro Drive roadway extension during a meeting on Monday, Aug. 18.

Warsaw Community and Economic Development Director Jeremy Skinner said the extension would connect the two segments of Petro Drive, in between the Tippe River Downs apartments and the Fairfield Inn & Suites.

“The apartment project that’s pretty much done on the south side was the impetus for this project,” said Skinner. “As they were looking at building that project, they asked for some assistance, and part of our agreement was we would finish that section of road.”

City Engineer Aaron Ott said the city received four bids ranging from approximately $231,000 to $311,000 for the project. Pulver Asphalt Paving Inc., Albion, provided the lowest bid at $231,763.

The engineer’s estimate for the work was $255,425.

“I’ve been familiar with (Pulver Asphalt Paving), they do a lot of work in LaGrange County, Noble County, over to DeKalb County,” said Ott. “That’s where they’ve usually focused their market at, but they’ve become interested in the Warsaw market.”

Ott told the commission Pulver Asphalt Paving also recently completed a sidewalk project for the city at Union and Kincaide Streets. He also said the contractor was given until the end of 2025 to finish the Petro Drive roadway extension project.

In other business, the commission held a public hearing to confirm a declaratory resolution establishing the Warsaw Tech Park as an allocation area.

“There are certain sections of the tech park that we brought back in 2016 that haven’t been developed,” said Skinner. “In order to maximize the investment that we’ve made out at the tech park, this section we’re going to re-up from a timeframe standpoint. It’s already in a TIF, we’re just re-upping the clock on that TIF for that specific property and this one is centric to the Autocam (Medical) project that’s going to be constructed there soon.”

The commission approved the resolution.

While discussing claims, commission members discussed the city’s partnership with Retail Strategies, which focuses on “providing the real estate expertise, tools and human effort that position deserving towns as alluring locations for national businesses,” according to their website.

Skinner said the city’s contract with Retail Strategies is currently set to expire at the end of the year. He told the commission he receives a quarterly report from the organization about their efforts in promoting Warsaw to businesses.

“I think it’s important to continue marketing ourselves on the commercial stage,” said Skinner. “I do believe we absolutely need to continue being out there. (Retail Strategies) has done a lot. Probably some of the people that are located in the Marketplace (at Warsaw) had conversations with them.”

The commission’s next meeting is at 4 p.m. Monday, Sept. 8, in Warsaw City Hall.