DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENTS
Kevin Zeppernick , principal , board member and CEO of Thrive , said this project so far has been two years in the making for them .
Zeppernick said Thrive is well-versed in mixed-use development , and have worked on similar projects up to 600 acres in the Columbus area .
“ It ’ s kind of tailor made for what we do ,” he said .
So far , Zeppernick said he has been impressed with the amount of “ alignment ” there has been between him , the landowners , the municipalities and community .
“ Obviously there ’ s a massive regional interest in getting this thing done ,” he said .
He said that Thrive has yet to do
anything physical with the land on their end .
Originally , he said the project was going to be potentially on podiums , however , he said considering the fact it is a floodplain , Thrive decided to instead physically raise the land by conducting horizontal construction .
Due to the fact that the project will be risky and expensive , Zeppernick they ’ re working on procuring a state incentives package with the help of the Indiana Economic Development Commission before they ’ re comfortable beginning any physical work . He said this process is taking a bit longer than usual .
“ We want to do things that can make a massive impact on a region ,” he said .
Moore also said that the city can offer
incentives for ACBL in their plans to develop the land despite the fact that ACBL will continue to own the land .
“ Jeffersonville is going to benefit from this , even though it ’ s privately owned property ,” Moore said .
Recently , around $ 6.5 million from the IEDC was awarded for the project . Moore also said that they ’ re pursuing more grants from the Lily Foundation .
He said that also there ’ s interest and excitement from the state level . He said Gov . Mike Braun is as excited as Gov . Eric Holcomb was about it .
“ You ’ re talking of a project that ’ s going to be over $ 1 billion , so you ’ ve got many different entities that are going to want to see this project happen , because it ’ s not only great for the city of Jeff , it ’ s great
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