Published: July 18, 2008 04:04 pm      

Ground broken near Jeffersonville Town Center site

Ground was ceremoniously broken Thursday on roadway improvements planned near the Jeffersonville Town Center site along Veterans Parkway.

Specific names of tenants that have expressed interests in the retail site were not released, however.

The road improvement project will cost about $1.2 million and is being done in three phases.

The first phase includes the construction of two turning lanes and the installation of a traffic signal at the intersection of Veterans Parkway and Town Center Boulevard. Phase two will be the construction of an approach and side road and phase three includes the installation of street lights along Veterans Parkway from U.S. 31 to Woehrle Road.

Project funding is via Tax Increment Finance, or TIF, revenues.

Mayor Tom Galligan, speaking at the groundbreaking, said the improvements were the beginning of a new era in Jeffersonville, because they would usher tenants into the long-anticipated retail center.

“If there was one project I heard about over and over again while campaigning it was, ‘what are we going to do about Veterans Parkway,’” said Jeffersonville City Councilman Ron Grooms.

Jeffersonville officials have been talking about the potential at the town center site for nearly six years, while Clarksville’s side of Veterans Parkway has experienced a boom in retail, with Target, Wal-Mart, Best Buy and numerous other stores and restaurants locating there.

“We’re going to be better than Clarksville,” Grooms declared just before short, shiny shovels were used to break the ground.

He said the economy, both nationally and locally was taking a turn. And that the day’s events were the product of cooperation by developers, the mayor’s office, the city council and the city’s redevelopment officials.

“This is an economic tool,” he said. “It will bring more jobs, more tax base.”

Redevelopment Commission President Rob Stevens characterized the project as the epitome of his board’s mission: Public money helping private investments.

Veterans Parkway is essentially Jeffersonville’s northern entrance, he said. Once the improvements are made and the town center begins to thrive, people are going to know that Jeffersonville is open for business.

Earlier in the week, there was speculation Jack Koetter, one of the developers of the site, would be releasing the names of tenants.

That wasn’t the case at the press conference.

He mentioned only family sports pub Beef ‘O’ Brady’s by name, a restaurant that has had a “coming soon” banner up at the site since early May. That will be opening in fall, he said.

Other businesses are interested in opening in the same building and more may follow in future constructions, Koetter said. Announcements could be made within the next 30 days or even as soon as Friday.

“I want to be patient with this project and I want to do it the right way,” he said.

There had been momentum, but nationally many major retailers are worried about the economy.

The story of the day, the road improvements, are “truly significant,” Koetter said.

“This enables us to have a few more tools in our chest to work with. The improvements are a necessity and a requirement for these types of development,” he said.

Koetter said plans for the project are still for an upscale retail development. However, the development of the nearby Kentuckiana Medical Center has attracted interests from the medical industry, something that may put a different twist on the northern part of the proposed development.