| By Neil Johnson, reporter/anchor, WCLO Radio |
Details are scant, but the city of Janesville has announced it intends to buy the idled, former 250-acre General Motors site.
The city announced in a press release today that it’s readying a relocation order, which it says is a first step to an “18-month-long” process to buy out the property, which has sat idle since 2009, when GM shuttered operations at its auto plant.
A relocation order would force the sale of the former GM site.
Multiple City Hall officials have not responded to requests for interviews by WCLO News, but Kevin Lahner told a WCLO Radio talk show host this morning that if the city council OKs a relocation order, that would ready the property for a forced condemnation sale to the city.
He says the city would then work with owner Commercial Development Company to buy the property at a negotiated price. If that doesn’t work, Lahner says, the city could proceed to a lawsuit that could seek a judge settling the sale and its price.
The move comes after the city earlier this month discussed a property acquisition in the city’s TIF 42, which includes the entire former General Motors plant and the adjacent JATCO auto haul-away yard.
Both sites are cleared of former auto-building operations, and have been owned by St. Louis-based Commercial Development Company since late 2017.
Commercial Development has attempted a few times in the past five years to sell the property off, including at auction, but the property has remained idle, with very little changing on site since 2020.
City manager Kevin Lahner didn’t speak to reporters Wednesday morning, but he said in a news released shortly before his on-air talk show interview Wednesday that the plan would put the city in control of its future on the south side.
“These are vital next steps to revitalize the former GM area, a major hub of our community. This is an opportunity to continue to rebuild our legacy,” he wrote. “The benefits of this step allow us to control our destiny, access to other funding sources, and build a vision together. Collectively, we can create a site that is ready to market, develop, see additional investments in the surrounding areas, and ultimately improve the quality of life.”
One city council member declined comment to WCLO Radio News this morning, saying they weren’t sure whether the plan had been released publicly, or whether they were legally allowed to comment.
Nothing legally prevents city officials from discussing a matter that’s now slated for an open-session discussion at city council on Monday.
The city’s economic development office also did not immediately respond to WCLO on inquiries on news of the emerging plan.
Commercial Development had undertaken a years-long, multi million-dollar demolition and cleanup of more than 2-million square feet of former auto plant property, some of which had operated on the site for almost a century. The state Department of Natural Resources has laid out an environmental closure letter on the property, but that report identifies some spots that are considered environmental liabilities.
Commercial Development has brought forth speculative plans to turn part of the former GM site into an intermodal rail yard, a move the company and city officials say would alleviate some shipping bottlenecks in the city of Chicago and throughout the Midwest.
But so far, no major plans to launch redevelopment at the site have emerged publicly, even though the city and Commercial Development had ballyhooed the former automotive assembly site years ago as being relaunched as the “Centennial Business Park.”
The city quietly designated the site as a Tax Increment Financing District last year, a legal framework that would allow redevelopment to be bankrolled through new tax value that redevelopment would create.
Acquisition of the property would make the site geared for development similar to other undeveloped land that the city holds as business or industrial park properties.
But it would be a unique type of redevelopment site, because any party redeveloping it would need to wrestle first with the property’s environmental liabilities, which city officials are acutely aware of.
In several property maintenance actions, the city of Janesville has asked Commercial Development Company to remove some or all the remaining concrete on the site to restore it to grass. But if Commercial Development did peel off the surface of the main GM plant, the DNR says it could trigger ongoing remediation that might be necessary because of ground contamination from decades of heavy industrial use.
City economic development officials have said for years the site has large-scale rail infrastructure, which would gear the site for rail use. But those same officials have said it’s unlikely that any redevelopment of the site would happen in a massive, fell swoop.
Use plans for the property show a variety of potential developments linked to light industry, although parts of the property have options for residential redevelopment.
Now, the site stands bare and fenced off.
One nearby local business operator, Northland Equipment Co. executive Dennis Thiele, tells WCLO Radio he’s been watching the inactivity across from him at Delavan Drive.
While he says the city’s movement toward seizing the property so far doesn’t tell the public much, he said he thinks it could be a “hopeful” sign for new momentum on the industrial south side to see its biggest property change hands in ownership.
Check back at WCLO Radio and WCLO.com for more on this exclusive news story.
