An Indianapolis developer’s concept site plan filed with the town of McCordsville shows three large buildings totaling over 2.2 million square feet at the northwest corner of Mt. Comfort Road and County Road 500N. About half of the land making up the site is in McCordsville, and the company is asking leaders to annex the rest into town.
McCORDSVILLE — Half of a site a developer is eyeing for large industrial buildings is in McCordsville town limits, and half is in unincorporated Hancock County.
The firm is asking the town to annex the portion that’s beyond its borders. It has officials wrestling with the need to grow McCordsville’s tax base with concerns over the continued spread of warehouses built on speculation in the western part of the county.
Indianapolis-based Strategic Capital Partners is pursuing the development on over 160 acres at the northwest corner of Mt. Comfort Road and County Road 500N. The site consists of mostly farmland and some residences.
A concept site plan submitted to the town of McCordsville shows three buildings, one over 1 million square feet and two nearly 600,000 square feet each.
The eastern half of the site is in McCordsville while the western portion is part of unincorporated Hancock County. Strategic Capital Partners wants the town to annex the western half and rezone the entire site to an industrial designation.
The current zoning on the town’s half is a combination of residential and commercial, while the current zoning on the county half is a mix of residential and business designations.
Brian Tuohy, a lawyer with Indianapolis-based Tuohy Bailey & Moore, representing Strategic Capital Partners, noted that McCordsville’s comprehensive plan contemplates industrial zoning around the site.
“I think this would greatly increase the tax base of the town if it’s brought in,” Tuohy said.
McCordsville Town Council unanimously approved the annexation on the first of two readings. The town’s plan commission is slated next week to consider a recommendation to the council on the site’s zoning. At a future council meeting, likely next month, council members will vote on the zoning and a final time on the annexation.
“Our ability to annex is very quite limited, so when someone comes in and asks to be in the town, I think we have to seize it,” council member Larry Longman said.
He and his colleagues said there’s still plenty to consider before their final decisions, however.
Greg Brewer, a town council member, said he realizes that McCordsville risks losing out on benefiting from all of the development interest in the area if it doesn’t annex. He added he also realizes that in Strategic Capital Partners’ instance, if the annexation is rejected, the developer likely won’t pursue a rezone with the county and do a smaller project.
Brewer said he’s concerned as well about the development prompting someone wanting to pursue a similar project to the north, which he doesn’t think would be appropriate for industrial uses.
He noted town officials have expressed a desire to see the area of Strategic Capital Partners’ proposed site closest to the northwestern corner of Mt. Comfort Road and County Road 500N maintain its current commercial zoning and foster such uses in the future.
“I just got a concern that we’re turning the southern part of the town limits into warehouse central,” he said, referring to the building of over 1 million square feet that Cincinnati-based Al. Neyer is developing in the area, along with the dozens of other large structures going up in western Hancock County.
Strategic Capital Partners’ development would create jobs, Brewer continued, but likely not for employees who will be able to afford McCordsville homes.
“The kind of housing we offer in this town is not suitable to the pay rate for a lot of those workers,” he said. “We’re not going to have those people; we’re not going to capture any of their income tax.”
Brewer reiterated a desire he’s shared in the past about wanting to draw industrial developments with higher-paying, technology-focused jobs.
But those kinds of employers aren’t attracted to places like McCordsville, at least not yet, some of his colleagues countered.
“Tech jobs are going to Carmel, Fishers, places that provide an extensive amount of amenities at the end of the day,” said Ryan Crum, McCordsville assistant town manager of planning and building.
McCordsville seeks to create such draws through its town center project, which is in its early stages.
