The area’s first intermodal facility has gotten the one step closer to the final go-ahead to start building.
With Commissioner Greg Myricks absent, the Hammond Redevelopment Commission voted 4-0 to approve the agreement between the city and Thruport Intermodal LLC for a railcar repair center and warehouses on the north side of the city’s Hessville section.
Thruport asked the city for between $2.9 million in tax increment financing district monies and purchased its own bond. McDermott added.
Once approved by the Hammond City Council, Thruport is expecting to start construction on the railcar facility by Oct. 1.
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The 155-acre parcel, comprised of a 53-acre former oil tank farm, property from the former Hammond Lead Products Inc. and the city’s former landfill, is bounded by Michigan Avenue/U.S. 20 to the north; Cline Avenue to the east; Kennedy Avenue to the west; and three sets of rail track to the south.
The project’s $20 million first phase will bring a train repair center able repair trains as a whole unit and feature a double loop that would allow two entire trains to move through for repair. The double-loop construction would be on a separate grade that wouldn’t affect traffic and will employ up to 50 people.
The project’s second phase will bring cold storage and dry warehouses, and with it 230 to 250 jobs with “good pay and benefits,” said Thruport attorney Jim Wieser. The project would be built around the landfill as opposed to through it.
Tuesday’s approval solidified the project, Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. said.
“Phil (Taillon), (Redevelopment attorney) Dave (Westland), (ThruPort CEO) Justin (Murphy) and I went through this contract, and from our perspective, it’s an excellent agreement, and we look forward to the city signing it,” McDermott said. “Hessville has been underutilized for decades, and it takes advantage of infrastructure the city already has.”
Wieser echoed the sentiment.
“Since Justin and I grew up here, we have a fondness for the city, so bringing a project of this magnitude to the city is special for us.”
Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance writer.