EDA and city start 'new era' at Midway Station, consider how to maximize value, pay off debt and still create jobs

Mayor Grayson Vandegrift spoke to the Woodford County Economic Development Authority board Friday.

By Collin Kruse and Kristi Fitzgerald

University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Media

               Now that developer Dennis Anderson no longer has an option on the Midway Station industrial park, the City of Midway and the Woodford County Economic Development Authority are wrestling with the development's future.

               The board of the EDA, which owns the land, discussed the future of the property, and its debt, at its monthly meeting on Feb. 22 in Versailles. It was the board's first meeting since Anderson terminated his option Feb. 7.

               Anderson had paid the interest on the property's mortgage in return for the option, which he exercised on several lots, selling them. Beginning July 1, the city and county will each have to start paying interest of $3,000 per month on the $2.477 million debt remaining on the land. 

               It may be hard for the EDA to be particular about land sales when the need to get money to pay debts is tying them down.

               EDA Chair John Soper suggested that the agency might be faced with the prospect of selling lots to employers who would create few jobs, as happened in the first phase of development many years ago. He said that would conflict with the original, long-term goal of the project.
               “Our goal is to produce long-term, re-occurring revenue, not just land sales, but the debt gets in your way,” Soper said.

               The treasurer’s report at the meeting said the land is valued at $2.967 million, based on sales amounts subtracted from the approximately $5 million that Anderson would have paid EDA if he had exercised his option. If that figure is accurate, the land is worth half a million dollars more than is owed on it, but EDA also has to spend money on legal work, engineering and maintenance.  

The board saw a potential redesign of the property in Midway Station
Station under and adjacent to the two high-voltage electric lines.

             If the land available in Midway Station sells for its estimated value, then the EDA could be short of paying the city the $600,000 it owes it on natural-gas and water lines built to the property. Mayor Grayson Vandegrift asked if Midway could receive a share of funds from future land sales after an unspecified “grace period.”

               Soper said, “We’ve got some immediate maintenance issues we need to deal with over there,” and money for that could come from getting additional lots from land at the east end of the property that has not been platted for development. He said that would require approval of banks that hold the debt.

               Vandegrift also showed interest in this section of Midway Station, suggesting that if access can be granted to the South Elkhorn Creek, the more rugged portion of the land that was left undeveloped could be used for recreational purposes.

               The land along the creek is owned by Homer Michael Freeny Jr., owner of 138 acres next to Midway Station that the city is annexing. He has expressed a desire to make that area public property for access to the creek for canoeing and other activities, with access through Midway Station and/or the tract being annexed.

               The mayor thanked Soper and the EDA board members for their "hard work," said Midway Station had entered "a new era" and it would be better for them, the city and county to finish developing the property than for an outside developer to do it: “It is important that we as a community develop it rather than outside interests.”

               The board made two definitive moves with the intention of getting the most value out of the land. First, it passed a motion to request rezoning of about nine acres, the last residential zone in Midway Station, into industrial.
               Some areas will remain zoned for professional offices. Planning Director Pattie Wilson said that would create “a good transition” from the commercial section in the front of Midway Station to industrial section in the back. Soper said the change would make Midway Station’s land more marketable because buyers won’t have to worry about the rezoning process.

               The board also agreed to have lawyer Bill Moore take a closer look at the deeds for tracts that have been sold to identify any provisions for maintenance of the industrial park, such as a property owners' association. “Somebody’s got to have some kind of responsibility for maintaining the common area,” board member Gene Hornback said.

               A strip of high voltage electric lines that run through Midway Station was also a topic at the meeting. Original plans were to have two-story commercial buildings accompanied by parking under the lines, but Soper has been working on a redesign to maximize the property value. “What you end up with on both sides of those lines is not much buildable land,” he said. “We’ve got to deal with this in some form or fashion.”