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City staff and land bank report: $6.75M REDI 2 award, multiple housing projects and tax-sale data revealing many unsold Muncie parcels
Summary
City staff said Muncie won $6,750,000 in REDI 2 funds for downtown redevelopment including a 34-unit Old West End housing project; the land bank reported 522 parcels listed in the 2025 tax sale, with 191 sold and many parcels repeatedly unsold — prompting discussion about buyer concentration and county surplus funds.
City staff and the Muncie Land Bank gave a wide-ranging update to the Redevelopment Commission on Nov. 20 that covered a federal/state REDI 2 award, multiple planned housing projects, a lease on a City-owned property and a data-driven review of the recent tax sale.
Jeff Howe (city staff) told the commission the city was awarded $6,750,000 in REDI 2 funding to support transformative development in the downtown core. Howe said that, when combined with more than $10,000,000 in city infrastructure investment, the award would advance the Muncie Central City Housing Project — which the staff presentation described as including roughly 34 new homes in the Old West End — and help underwrite other downtown housing work, including discussions about a 4‑story multiunit building that could add roughly 100 units in the downtown area.
Howe also updated commissioners on the Muncie Mall cleanup (environmental and interior demolition underway) and said the city executed a lease on the Colson property; during the meeting staff referenced an upfront payment and a monthly payment during a testing period and noted a larger sale value as part of the project's financial context.
On subdivisions and private development, Howe said D.R. Horton has submitted plans for a subdivision of about 126 homes, and that planning for a Sportsplex-area development could result in roughly 250 homes across a range of types. He said these projects will take years to reach construction but that officials believe demand and absorption exist.
Nate Howard (Muncie Land Bank) and land bank analyst Zach presented findings from the 2025 tax sale focused on Muncie: Zach reported 522 parcels listed within Muncie limits. He said 191 of those sold and the remaining did not, leaving significant delinquency on the table. Zach also noted that a small group of buyers accounted for most of the money spent at the sale and that several top bidders were repeat participants from prior years.
Zach described the tax-sale surplus process: surplus proceeds go into an escrow fund where the original owner has a statutory redemption window, and after the statutory period surplus funds may be retained at the county level rather than distributed to individual taxing units. Commissioners raised concerns that the city absorbs local costs associated with blight (code enforcement, lost property-tax revenue) even when surplus funds ultimately reside with the county.
Howard and Zach said the land bank is continuing data analysis (supported by a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant) to identify patterns and to prepare policy recommendations; Howard said the land bank aims to take care of properties that repeatedly appear at the tax sale and return them to productive use. Zach directed commissioners to a tax-sale summary and data dashboard on the land bank website for detailed slides and underlying tables.
Commissioners asked for additional materials and for follow-up discussions with county decision-makers; staff said they will continue to refine analytic work and bring policy options to future meetings. The commission adjourned and set its next meeting for Dec. 18, 2025.
(Reporting note: transcript excerpts contained a few garbled numeric figures in the packet read-aloud; staff materials and the land bank's published dashboard should be consulted for exact dollar and parcel counts.)
