Building room for industry

Superior is paving the way for industrial development in the Winter Street Industrial Park.

The city's Redevelopment Authority approved granting easements that will allow construction of infrastructure to points west of Hallett Dock and north of AMSOIL Center near U.S. Highway 2.

Over the last several years, the city has been working to purchase land and easements to build a street and add utilities from Ajax Road to 35 acres the city owns near the Bong Bridge, said Port and Planning Director Jason Serck.

"Our industrial property for development in the city is limited, he said.

While there are a couple of scattered small sites still open in the Interstate Industrial Park in North End, the last remaining industrial site on Connors Point was developed last year when AMI Consulting Engineers built its new facility in Superior last year.

"We are taking the step to construct a road from Ajax Road west to serve our industrial park," Serck said. "We feel this will make the property a little bit more marketable. Usually, when folks come ask us for property, usually it's in the 10th hour, folks are wanting a place to be, and we don't have roads and utilities out there."

Currently, he said, the city is in the process of laying out the road with SEH doing the planning. In the next month or so, the city council could be putting the construction project out to bid.

The city started planning the new industrial sites in almost a decade ago, but it has taken time to clear up easement issue and work with property owners like the county and three railroads in the area to get to this point.

"It's taken awhile, but we're finally ready to pull the trigger on this," Serck said. He said while there are private roads closer to the site, the city must have a certified railroad crossing, which is available at Ajax Road.

In conjunction with the project, the city is going to put a water line in at Hallett Dock. The company will be paying a portion of those costs, Serck said.

"We're kind of working side by side on that," he said.

The project is expected to cost about $1.2 million and will be built by a private contractor.

Funding for it comes from cash on hand after past tax increment finance borrowing, according to Finance Director Jean Vito. While the city had borrowed $4.5 million for TIF District No. 9, which includes Boyer Trucks, FedEx and AMSOIL, the city only spent about $2.3 million in the TIF valued at $20 million and generating about $426,000 in tax increment for this year.

"We definitely have the capacity to be paying this debt back," Vito said.