America Place to build warehouses at River Ridge

Clark County

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September 7, 2012

America Place to build warehouses at River Ridge

Company hopeful purchase will be completed by the end of the month

By BRADEN LAMMERS braden.lammers@newsandtribune.com The News and Tribune Fri Sep 07, 2012, 07:30 AM EDT

JEFFERSONVILLE — The River Ridge Development Authority Board of Directors held a special meeting Wednesday to approve a construction contract and a letter of credit for development at River Ridge Commerce Center.

The letter of credit for a gas main extension totaled $120,000 and would allow River Ridge to recoup the cost for construction over 51⁄2 years. The recovery of the costs would come through reimbursements based on the number of tap-ins to the gas line. While there were concerns raised by the board wanting to be assured the commerce center would be able to recover the initial costs, the approval of the letter of credit was a condition to be able to close on a property for sale.

River Ridge has a purchase agreement in place with America Place, but a sale has not been finalized.

“We are in the process of our due diligence now,” said Debbie Smith, manager of America Place.

She said the Jeffersonville business park plans to build between three and four industrial distribution warehouse buildings on a 42-acre site in River Ridge Commerce Center.

“We will begin construction immediately after we close,” Smith said.

The first two buildings planned will be about 150,000 square feet and the second building planned will be expandable for up to 200,000 square feet of space.

A third and possibly fourth building are also planned, depending upon the size of the structure. Smith said the company will either construct two 200,000-square-foot distribution warehouses or a single 400,000-square-foot distribution warehouse.

While Smith added several companies have expressed interest in locating at the sites, no deals are finalized and she would not divulge which companies are potential tenants. America Place will construct the buildings and could then lease space.

America Place also maintains an 84-acre, 1.14-million-square foot business park just west of Plank Road in Jeffersonville.

According to the company’s website, more than 30 businesses are located in the business park, with spaces ranging in size from 10,000 to 40,000 square feet.

The letter of credit was approved 4-0, with Board Member David W. Evanczyk not in attendance at Wednesday’s meeting. River Ridge and America Place are hoping to have the purchase agreement finalized by the end of September.

SEWER EXTENSIONS

River Ridge Engineer Marc Hildenbrand presented bids for a plan to construct a sanitary sewer extension along Patrol Road. The plan is to extend sewer lines to several sites near the Amazon.com Inc. distribution center.

Hildenbrand said seven bidders submitted offers with Clark Nickles Inc. coming in as the lowest bidder at $285,700. The engineer’s estimate for the project totaled $350,000.

Hildenbrand added that the project carries a 90-day construction time frame and should be completed this year.

The River Ridge Development Authority board unanimously agreed to award the contract.

Amazon’s distribution center is on schedule to open in October.