City of Rushville Breaks Ground on 80-Acre Industrial Park
Economic development officials from Rushville joined Mayor Mike Pavey and Donald Kathan, Area Director for the U.S. Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration to break ground on a new $3 million industrial park on the Northside of the City. The new development is planned for a late-2014 completion.
“This is an exciting step in this process,” said Rushville Redevelopment Commission President John McCane. “This project has been in the works for several years, so there is some genuine exuberance as we move forward.” According to McCane, the development of the industrial park has come to fruition from the labor of five mayors, six economic development directors, dozens of city councilmen, and countless community leaders.
The project is expected to develop complete infrastructure throughout the 80-acre parcel. This will include road construction, extension of water and wastewater line, a fiber network, the development of retention ponds, storm drainage, and lighting.
Cathy Wenning, Chair of the Rush County ECDC believes that this development will open the door for new economic development opportunity for Rushville and Rush County. “This is developer’s dream – this is an economic developer’s dream to be able to have a parcel that is ideal for someone to come in and set up a business. What an ideal location, less than 15 miles to Interstate 70 and 15 miles to Interstate 74. This will be a prime piece of property that will get a lot of looks and hopefully soon will have some buildings going up.”
“I thank the community for the unity they have shown; teamwork and faith they have shown in the project, just genuine persistence,” said Mayor Pavey. I also thank Mayor Bob Bridges whose administration had the forethought to make the purchase of this property. It was a very progressive process. We were usually a pretty reactive community, so having the insight to purchase this property allows us to be here today. The City has determined to make a significant financial investment in the economic development of this community.”
In August, 2012, the EDA awarded $1.66 million to the City of Rushville for the development of the Industrial Park. The City will match these funds with $1.66 million of local dollars. “There is strength, commitment, and diversity of the public and private partners that are involved with a particular project,” said EDA Area Director Donald Kathan. “At EDA, while our grant funds are a small but necessary part, we’re under no illusion to believe or think that that is sufficient to bring a project to fruition and cause success through job creation. We recognize that by leveraging of private sector investment and being able to raise the community, there will be that rising tide to float a lot of boats through that quality of life type of improvement.”