By approving the OrthoWorx Orthopedic Industry Retention Initiative (OIRI) subrecipient agreement Monday, the Warsaw Redevelopment Commission locked itself into the Warsaw Chemical Allocation project.
“As part of receiving any OIRI funding, as we move forward, there will be a subrecipient agreement for those entities that enter into the project. This is the first project coming out of OIRI. It has to do with the purchase of the Warsaw Chemical project. We requested $5 million from OIRI for that acquisition. This subrecipient agreement basically just binds us to that project and working toward completing the project as described, with OrthoWorx, Grace College and additional partners as we develop them,” explained Warsaw Community and Economic Development Director Jeremy Skinner.
OIRI was established to provide funding to support projects related to workforce housing, community amenities and the creation of an orthopedic innovation research center. Funding from the state for OIRI was approved in 2023 by the Indiana General Assembly. OrthoWorx oversees the distribution of the funding to projects that are part of the OIRI plan.
The current Warsaw Chemical property on Argonne Road will become the future site of the orthopedic innovation research center.
Skinner said, “We will develop this project, in conjunction with our partners at Grace and other partners ... once that project is developed, our intent is to turn that over to Grace so we will not be managing it.”
At the end of Monday’s meeting, Commission member, former Warsaw mayor and U.S. Coalition Chairman Joe Thallemer reminded everyone the last day for public comments on the U.S. 30 study is Dec. 13. He encouraged everyone to get on the ProPEL U.S. 30 website, look at the Level 3 Alternatives and review the interchanges and the alternatives that are being proposed.
“There’s about five or six alternatives for each interchange, and they recommend, several of them will carry - maybe one forward to the final report - but it’s critical that we advocate for a freeway in our community to support the industrial growth that we’ve not only experienced in the past, but that we’re obviously headed (toward),” Thallemer said. “... We can’t settle for J-turns and R-cuts, and even right-ins and right-outs. It has to be done properly.”
The community can be heard by commenting on the website at propelus30.com under U.S. 30 East.
In other business, the commission approved:
• For Skinner to apply for an Indiana Residential Infrastructure Fund (RIF) loan for approximately $1.025 million for the expansion of infrastructure to phase 5 (41 lots) of the Belle Augusta housing development on North CR 225E. The loan application is due by Dec. 13.
Skinner said they would work with Biggs Group to secure the loan from the state.
“Now, the loan becomes a bond issue, so keep that in mind,” he said. While it’s a “loan application,” he said in reality it’s a bond issue. “We would apply. If they granted it, we would work with the state on the terms of that bond, and right now we’re looking at just over $1 million in bond. It would be in the Northern Residential TIF District, and we would use (that) to pay the bond back. It currently has about $700,000 in cash and it brings in around $400,000 in revenue per year.”
Skinner said he doesn’t know what the terms of the bond would be.
Kevan Biggs, of the Biggs Group, said the loan program is brand new, coming out in January from the Indiana Finance Authority (IFA).
“We applied for the first round of money in July, and we’re going to close on our first one here later this month. And, just quarterly, the rate is currently quoted at 2.68%, so significantly below market,” Biggs stated.
The IFA loan will be awarded some time in the first quarter of 2025, if they receive it, he said.
“They’re trying to get as many deals closed this year as they can so they can go to the legislature here in the spring and request another tranche of money to be set aside for additional allocations in 2025,” Biggs said. “The first allocation was $50 million. This allocation will be $25 (million) in December.”
• Resolutions amending and restating a real estate acquisition resolution and a property transfer and final disposition resolution for the Applied Thermal Technologies Inc. water line project. The original resolutions were approved Nov. 4.
Skinner said the resolutions were being amended for bookkeeping purposes. “So when we originally approved them, the ownership of the company and the real estate are two different entities, and this is a real estate acquisition, so I talked to (Barnes & Thornburg bond counselor) Randy (Rompola), and just for the sake of the (Department of Local Government Finance) and making sure there’s no misunderstanding, these resolutions amend that so that we’ll be buying the property from the real estate holding company, which owns the real estate, not Applied Thermal who sits on the property,” he said.
• Awarding the East CR 200N turn lane to Phend & Brown for $107,473. The other bidder was G & G Hauling & Excavating, but Phend & Brown was the lowest of the two bids opened at the last Board of Public Works and Safety meeting.
Asked what the timeline for that road work was, Skinner said sometime around March or April.
The commission also approved the agreement with Phend & Brown and the notice to proceed.
• The 2025 meeting schedule, with meetings to be on the first Monday of every month and the third Monday of every month as needed. Meetings will be held at 4 p.m., though Thallemer, who also sits on the OrthoWorx board, asked that the March 3, June 2, Sept. 22 and Dec. 1 Redevelopment Commission meetings be pushed back to 4:30 p.m. because OrthoWorx meetings from 3 to 4:30 p.m. The time changes were taken under consideration.