The former Marsh property will be officially sold by the city of Warsaw in October. Photo by David Slone, Times-Union.

By David Slone
Times-Union

WARSAW — With the approval of a resolution and two purchase agreements Monday, Oct. 6, the Warsaw Redevelopment Commission authorized the disposition and sale of the bulk of the Marsh property and an outlot at 500 S. Buffalo St.

The bulk of the former Marsh property, including the building, is being sold for $1 million to 500 Buffalo LLC for an antique mall, while the outlot is being sold for $225,000 to Ewert Development LLC to put in a Scooter’s Coffee.

In presenting the resolution authorizing the disposition of the former Marsh property, Warsaw Community and Economic Development Director Jeremy Skinner explained the resolution allows the city to close on the sale of the two properties after Oct. 8.

Former mayor and Commission Member Joe Thallemer asked, “So, basically, you’re splitting this up into two lots, and we’re approving authorizing the city to dispose of both of those lots?”

Skinner said yes.

The resolution was unanimously approved.

The first purchase agreement Skinner presented was for the outlot to Ewert Development LLC for $225,000. Closing will be after Oct. 8, but Skinner said there were some dates and details that will be added to the purchase agreement once they agree on the closing date. Thallemer asked if the purchaser of the outlot would be responsible to hook up to the utilities. Skinner said all the city was doing was selling the outlot “as is.” The easements for the outlot have been created, but the buyer will be responsible for any utilities and permits needed for their development.

Councilman Mike Klondaris asked where do the proceeds from the sale of the land go. Skinner said they will go back into the Tech Park funds, which is where the money came when the city purchased the property in 2023 for $1.25 million from Cardinal Services. The purchase agreement was approved 5-0.

The second purchase agreement was for the former Marsh property, that includes the building, to be bought by 500 Buffalo LLC for $1 million. After going through some questions and typographical errors, the commission approved the draft of the purchase agreement, with some dates to be filled in and the errors to be corrected.

Thallemer told Skinner, “Thank you, Jeremy, for all the work you’ve done. This has all taken a while. I was, obviously, involved in the making of the decision several years ago to purchase the property to try to control its destiny, if you will.”

He said the Redevelopment Commission employed a firm to search for a grocery store for the property or retail.

“It’s been a long haul,” Thallemer said, noting property taxes will resume on it. “I am very satisfied with those coming in, wanting to develop it, the coffeeshop as well as the main building. It’s a start on that property. We all know how difficult retail has been, and the fact that there’s folks willing to step forward, and that this Redevelopment Commission is willing to work with them, it’s fantastic. And we’re basically getting back what we paid for the property at the end of the day. I feel good with where we are. Would it have been great to have a Safeway grocery store in there? Sure, but retail doesn’t seem to work like that anymore. I’m thankful that we have folks who were willing to step forward and invest. At the end of the day, it was a good decision.”

Klondaris agreed, saying, “We really tried. We really tried, and it’s better than having an empty building.”

In other business, Skinner told the commission, “We are looking at buying (Polk parking lot). I’ve got an agreement in principle with them, but I have to go through the process, so that will be starting hopefully at our next October meeting.”

Klondaris asked if that parking lot was the one across from the Old Jail Museum on Indiana Street, and Skinner said yes.

“Initially, we’ll use it for temporary parking. We’ve got a lot of things going on,” he said, and then it’ll be offered to downtown businesses for employee parking because there have been some issues with that. “Once the parking garage is constructed (at 225 N. Buffalo St.), then we’ll start kicking around ideas to develop that property. So, ideally, we’ll plan another residential property or something on the site, but it’ll be a good site as we build the parking garage to have additional parking during that timeframe.”

The city and county are working to build the parking garage at an estimated cost of $15 million, with $5 million covered by Orthopedic Industry Retention Initiative funds.

Skinner said the intent is to close on purchasing the Polk parking lot by year’s end. As for the Anchorage Road improvement and widening project, Skinner said it gets let out for bids on Thursday. Once that gets let, he said they’ll know what the cost is and the city will have its 10% match for that project. He said, hopefully, the Indiana Department of Transportation will cover their 80% because he’s sure it’ll come in way higher than it was estimated at six years ago.

“That’s always the challenge with these projects,” Skinner stated.

The Anchorage Road project is slated to begin in 2026. Skinner also reminded the commission they had the groundbreaking ceremony for the Millworks housing development at 302 W. Market St. on Sept. 23.

“The project is off and running. We’ll be finalizing closing on the bond – hopefully, we’ll get that started this week, so there’s some closing documents our attorneys need to finalize and get out to them (AP Development LLC) so we can close on that bond,” he said, adding AP Development President Jon Anderson will be closing on his financing in the next couple weeks. “More work will occur on the site here shortly.”

Claims approved by the commission included: $202.89 from NIPSCO; $234.78 and $164.95 from Indiana American Water; $46.53, The UPS Store; $10,642.85, Warsaw Community Development Inc.; $300, Kosciusko Development Inc.; $62.81, Times-Union; $4,220.23, Barnes & Thornburg LLP; $300, Four Aces Lawn Care LLC; $120, Skinner; $25, Kosciusko County Recorder; $1,715, A & Z Engineering LLC; $40.19, Quill; $100, Prince Land Surveying; $2,556, DLZ Engineering; and $42,000, Westhill Development.

The next Warsaw Redevelopment Commission meeting is scheduled for 4 p.m. Oct. 20 in the council chambers at City Hall.