Grant County Redevelopment Commission opens four RFPs for Miller Avenue 'Dana' site; staff to score proposals

Grant County’s Redevelopment Commission on Dec. 1 opened and read four proposals received in response to a request for proposals for the Miller Avenue (Dana) redevelopment site and voted to take the bids under advisement while staff circulates full proposals and a scoring sheet.

Commission President (name not stated) asked staff to read the proposer names and total amounts. Staff said four proposals had been received and that commissioners would receive the full PDFs and an RFP evaluation sheet with seven scoring criteria: redevelopment vision and end use, economic impact, environmental responsibility, respondent capacity and experience, local commitment, financial strength and project timeline. "I'll also give you an RFP scoring sheet and the 7 different categories to score on," staff said.

The public reading identified the proposers as Lycon Machinery LLC (proposal price not specified during the oral reading; the proposal text indicates a revenue‑sharing component), GM Development Companies LLC (represented by Josh Mesmer; read as $10,000 an acre), Hoosier Redevelopment Partners LLC (appeared to be $10,000), and JP Marion LLC/K Street Capital (read as $1,000,000). The commission passed a motion to accept the four proposals "under advisement" for review; Commissioner Fleming moved and Miss Hackton seconded the motion, and the board voted aye.

Several proposers spoke during the public comment period. Joe Moore introduced himself as representing Lycon Machine and LP1 Partners and said the company recently opened a factory on Miller Avenue and has interest in the site. "My name is Joe Moore. I represent Lycon Machine," he told commissioners. Josh Mesmer, representing GM Development and Surge Development, said the firms have experience with both greenfield and brownfield redevelopment and emphasized plans to address environmental contamination. "Our focus is really going to be to clean up the environmental contamination, to remove the blight and put this site back into productive and economic use for the community," Mesmer said. Douglas Warren, speaking for Hoosier Redevelopment Partners, said his team brings project management and local equipment and has coordinated with the state project manager. "We have spoken with Josh Keller, the state project manager over this site, and we've shared our proposal," Warren said.

Staff told commissioners they will email each commissioner the four proposals with labeled PDFs and the RFP evaluation form, and asked commissioners to score each proposal against the seven criteria and return their scores; staff will then coordinate with Commissioner Middlesworth on reconvening the body, likely after the holidays. The commission also noted a statutory redemption period for the current property owner that must be observed before transfer.

The commission did not vote to award the site at the meeting; the action taken was procedural — to accept the proposals under advisement and begin the scored evaluation process. The commission scheduled its next regular meeting for Jan. 5 at noon.