Press Release from Warsaw Mayor, Joe Thallemer:
Tuesday afternoon, the Northeast Indiana Regional Development Authority approved a Regional Cities grant of $3.5 million dollars to the City of Warsaw and its’ development partner Matthews LLC for the North Buffalo Street Redevelopment Project.
David Matthews, a very successful urban developer from South Bend with Matthew LLC, will invest over $20 million dollars into our community, creating an urban housing development within walking distance of downtown Warsaw, Central Park, Center Lake, and the Zimmer-Biomet headquarters building.
Construction will commence this spring to connect Indiana Street and Buffalo Street. Those improvements will include sidewalks, curbs and parking lanes. Critical wastewater and storm-water reconstruction improvements will also be a part of this comprehensive redevelopment project.
Later this fall, as the necessary road and infrastructure improvements are completed, construction will commence on the initial phase of residential urban homes. Matthews plans to utilize local contractors and resources as the project dictates.
The $27 million dollar urban housing and mixed-use development will consist of two phases. The initial phase will include a total of 52 townhomes, city homes, and mews along both sides of North Buffalo Street between Fort Wayne Street and the city park property on the shores of Center Lake. The second phase will consist of a mix of commercial and residential use at the site of the old Indiana American Water property.
Local funds for these infrastructure improvements will come from 2015 Common Council approved and Redevelopment Commission sponsored Warsaw Redevelopment Authority tax increment financing bonds. The city of Warsaw will spend a total of $3.56 million dollars on the $27.56 million dollar project that when completed, is expected to return $546,000 in annual tax revenue and create from 85-90 new jobs
The Regional Cities Grant (which needs to be approved by the Indiana Economic Development Corporation) of $3.5 million dollars will assist with a public park/ plaza construction at the lakefront, land acquisition, and demolition.
In approving the project, the RDA recognized the City of Warsaw and their commitment to desirable housing and quality of place as improvements, designed to help attract and retain the specialized workforce talent that is so vital to our local industries.
I am thankful of the careful foresight of the Common Council and the Redevelopment Commission as well as the collaborative community planning exercised by our Building and Planning Department, Parks and recreation, Street Department, Wastewater and Storm water Utilities, Engineering, and City legal services. Our community is proud to move ahead with a project of this caliber.
