LaPorte, IN – LaPorte County officials today announced they have reached agreement with state officials on a $1 million Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) performance-based grant to support the connection of LaPorte County’s $6 million rail spur at Kingsbury Industrial Park (KIP) with the CSX mainline that is adjacent to the park’s southern border.
The agreement to connect the KIP rail spur with the CSX mainline was approved at Wednesday’s county Redevelopment Commission meeting. “With this increased connectivity, KIP, which was previously designated by CSX as a ‘Select Site’ for prospective developers will be one of the few industrial parks in the nation that can be served by two Class I rail carriers,” said RDC President Randy Novak.
“This connection is expected to increase opportunities for economic investment and job creation in LaPorte County and the surrounding region.”
“Getting this connection to CSX in place is key to opening up KIP to the entire CSX logistics chain,” added Novak. “By now having the north/south rail spur at KIP connected on the south edge of the park to CSX, we’re also working hard at the getting the north end of the spur connected directly
with the CN Railroad that runs along the north side of the park.”
Dr. Vidya Kora, the LaPorte County Commission’s appointee to the Redevelopment Commission hailed the public/private partnership necessary to secure the grant and he particularly recognized “the support we’ve received from our local legislators including Rep. Jim Pressel and Sen. Mike Bohacek who have worked tirelessly to make KIP as attractive as possible for job creation. We’ve also had to secure significant private sector commitments by JBC Rail, NIPSCO and others for rail-served investment in the park and had to commit to certain deliverables in order for the state to provide the grant.”
“We talk frequently about economic development being a team sport, and it’s encouraging to see the collaborative efforts put forth by all involved in this project,” said Jim Staton, Senior Vice President, Chief Business Development officer, IEDC. “Increasing connectivity in this region of the state is going to go a long way in impacting future job creation efforts, and we look forward to seeing the number of Hoosiers impacted for generations to come.”
The IEDC offered LaPorte County up to $1 million from the Industrial Development Grant Fund, which provides assistance to communities making infrastructure investments in support of economic development opportunities. These incentives are performance-based, meaning the county must meet certain milestones and deliverables to collect and maintain funds.