Patch presents updates to McCordsville RDC on mixed-use site
McCordsville, Ind. (The Greenfield Reporter) — Patch Development presented a revised version of its plan for a mixed-use commercial and industrial development to the McCordsville Redevelopment Commission at its August meeting.
The development, which was initially presented to the McCordsville Architectural Review Committee last month, presents “flex-space” buildings that bridge the gap between traditional warehouses and office or commercial spaces, a design presented by McCordsville Town Manager Tim Gropp as a compromise in comparison to a potential million-square-foot warehouse.
Patch VP of Development Andrew Greenwood said that the company is already in discussion with two potential tenants of the site, which could prevent the company from having to build any speculative buildings, potentially allowing both the town and the company to see a quicker return on investment.
If the development is approved, the town would be in charge of completing the infrastructure, namely the public roads, for the site as part of a Tax Increment Financing partnership. Gropp calls the project “as straightforward of a TIF development partnership as you’re ever going to get.”
There was still some debate over the placement of the public road within the site, with a last-second proposal coming from town staff during the meeting suggesting that the road should move further to the east. This change would allow easier access to the proposed commercial buildings along Mt. Comfort Road while better aligning the road with the access point to Aurora Way. Greenwood said that Patch was “open to re-envisioning” the location of the road.
The site would only have one main access point along each of the two roads it borders, Mt. Comfort Road and County Road 500 North, but the retail sites along Mt. Comfort could potentially also have individual driveways.
The other point of contention was over the alignment of the larger warehouse spaces, namely the directions that the docks should face. The design has changed several times throughout the process, but the RDC echoed the ARC’s sentiment that the docks should face the interior of the site plan in order to mask them from Mt. Comfort Road.
Gropp said that town staff hopes to have an agreement with Patch ready to propose to the town council by its October meeting. Patch would also need to go through a PUD approval process for the site plan and receive final approval on architectural designs from the ARC before the developer could move forward. If all goes smoothly, Gropp projects that the development could break ground as soon as late next spring, with Greenwood adding they would want to begin movement “as soon as possible.”
Greenwood says that Patch has done similar products “all over the donut area” and that the plan would be to construct approximately two buildings per year if and when the project is approved.
This article originally appeared in The Greenfield Reporter.