LA PORTE — The construction of a railroad spur to the Kingsbury Industrial Park is going to encourage some major economic development in the county, said County Commissioner Ken Layton.

And with the Halfwassen Group’s agreement to start construction by July 5, it’s going to be coming to the county in the near future.

Layton, who was involved in negotiations for the project, said it would help the county in a number of ways once it’s complete.

“Number one, I expect the impact to be more jobs in the area,” he said. “Number two, I expect an increase in the assessed valuation of the property and the number of corporations or companies that will function out of the Kingsbury Industrial Park and add to the base of the county.”

The project involves the construction, installation and equipping of a rail spur from a CSX mine railway line to the Kingsbury Industrial Park. There Halfwassen plans to build a refrigeration unit to store produce coming as far away as South America. It also will allow meat and produce from La Porte to be shipped down there.

On Monday, the County Council adopted a resolution to grant a $6 million, 15-year loan to the Halfwassen Group, for the project. It also called for the creation of a property owners association to take responsibility for the completion of the project if one of the parties were to leave, and for construction to begin by July 5.

At the meeting, County Council President Rich Mrozinski said the spur and railroad traffic would encourage other businesses to come to the park. Layton agreed.

“Number one, the spur will bring in an increase in rail traffic to the area which, in turn, the intermodal effect will increase the number of corporations in the Kingsbury Industrial Park,” he said. “It will bring in a tie to Central America with the produce coming to cold storage.”

He pointed out that CSX has also committed $3 million for the rail transfer and signaling at the spur. He said CSX will hopefully be able to tie into the South Shore Railroad, which will cause growth in the Michigan City area.

“This is just a plus plus for La Porte County and the citizens of La Porte County,” he said. “I don’t see any loss in it whatsoever.”

He said the time frame was supplied by Halfwassan Development, who picked the specific date of July 5. This was after negotiations with the county.

“This has been on track for the better part of a year and there had been no movement,” he said. “So we were asking for a specific date and some kind of time structure.”

He said the company expects the rail portion to be done sometime in late October or early November, and construction of the warehouse unit and transportation facility to be completed sometime in early winter or early spring.

Source: Herald Argus, published May 25, 2011