Agreement Signed On Buffalo Street Project
WARSAW — The Buffalo Street Redevelopment Project moved one step closer to reality Monday afternoon when an economic development agreement was approved by the Warsaw Redevelopment Commission. The agreement is with Dave Matthews of Matthews Warsaw LLC.
The agreement sets the timeline for the two-phase development of property, north of East Fort Wayne Street to Center Lake. This development will be the construction of residential and mixed-use development with a capital investment of approximately $20,550,000.
The agreement states the construction of phase 1 will begin three months following the completion of the city’s infrastructure and the construction of phase 2 will be no later than three years after the completion of the infrastructure.
Phase 1 of the Buffalo Street Redevelopment project will consist of a mixture of urban housing, including townhomes, mews and city homes. The proposed housing development consists of approximately 10 city homes, 17 townhouses and 26 mews and will be constructed along the corridor.
Phase 2 consists of a multi-story mixed use building with approximately 65,000 to 85,000 square feet of leasable space located along Buffalo Street and Center Lake. The proposed mixed-use building will be comprised of retail/eateries space, office space and residential space. This will be located on the former Indiana American Water Property.
Jeremy Skinner, city planner, noted this project will be presented as a potential candidate for the regional cities funding program. A presentation of the project will be given at the May 17 regional development meeting.
Other Business
During other business the commission approved a cash rental agreement, for the third year, with John G. Powell on the farming of 53 acres. The acreage is part of the tech park property not-yet-development. Skinner stated it is the same contract and same price as the past two years. Rent will be $190 per acres with $5,035 due on May 1 and the remaining $5,035 due on Nov. 1.
Discussion was held regarding an amendment with Warsaw Fiber, to provide a fiber network. The amendment was a claim for $38,613 instead of the original $21,000. Skinner stated the additional cost is related to what the city requested in sensitive areas. A part of this was placing the fiber service underground instead of on poles.
The result provided fiber service not only to the city hall but to downtown businesses: an incentive for businesses to come downtown and a service to those existing businesses. Fifteen businesses have already connected.
“Our goals are to provide free WiFi downtown and this allows us to do this with restrictions,” said Skinner. The restrictions would be no downloading of movies etc., but access to the Internet. “We may charge $1 an hour for unlimited use,” he said as a possibility in the future.
The commission also approved the Tech Park recertification plan to present to the state. A disclaimer was noted that the information in the plan was confidential and could not be shared with the public. Skinner stated in summary the plan lays out what has been done, map out where plans are going and what the city hopes to accomplish.