New deal signed to develop Midway Station

The plan to turn Midway Station into a residential and commercial development isn't dead after all.

Developer Dennis Anderson, who last month rejected what appeared to be the Woodford County Economic Development Authority's final deal for him to buy and develop the failed industrial park, has signed a new agreement with EDA to buy the property (in northeast quadrant of interchange area in MapQuest image) within 35 months, Stephen Burnett reports in today's edition of The Woodford Sun.

EDA Chairman Michael Duckworth told Burnett that Midway Mayor Tom Bozarth asked him last Thursday to meet again with the Lexington developer. "Anderson liked what EDA proposed, and on Monday board members during a closed-door session unanimously approved a new deal," Burnett reports. (The Sun does not put news stories online.)

The key to the deal is use of Anderson's option fee – "which he still owed to the board even if the deal had not been made," Burnett notes – to pay the interest on the loan that EDA used to buy the property. That undisclosed amount, combined with interest payments from EDA, will "ensure taxpayers' money will not be needed to preserve the deal" signed two years ago, Burnett reports. For more on that, click here.

Duckworth, a Versailles banker, had planned to resign from the board Dec. 31, but "said he had agreed with attorneys and city officials to delay the effective date until Wednesday, Jan. 5," Burnett reports. Bozarth praised the efforts of Duckworth and other EDA board members, telling Burnett, "It's going to be good for us, the City of Midway, because we won;t have to pay interest for another 35 months. That was a big, big issue for us going forward."