Decatur issues $8.1M bond to expand industrial park

The Decatur Economic Development Board approved issuing an $8.1 revenue bond to acquire 370 acres for industrial park expansion Monday night. The Decatur City Council also approved the debt issuance.

The Messenger
By Austin Jackson 
on February 27, 2023

The Decatur Economic Development Corp. is purchasing 370 acres of land to expand the city’s growing industrial sector.

Decatur council members and the economic development board OK’d issuing an $8.1 million sales tax revenue bond Monday to acquire the remainder of the Landmark Industrial Park adjacent to Eagles Landing Business Park. 

The purchase would expand the Decatur EDC’s footprint between Farm Road 2264 and County Road 4010 along U.S. 81/287 to 530 acres. 

“This is a milestone for Decatur,” said Decatur EDC Executive Director Kevin Holzbog. “There have been major decisions in the past that have shaped Decatur and made it what it is today. I believe that this bond, this land acquisition is one of those major decisions that we’ll look back on as a really significant moment.”

The bond would fund the purchase of property surrounding Landmark Fabrication. The Landmark Industrial Park property is already outfitted with water and sewer lines, with the city previously investing $1.5 million to extend the infrastructure to the primarily vacant industrial park property.

Eagles Landing, the EDC’s current, 162-acre business park was bought in 2018 for $1.8 million. Now, the park is 50 percent committed with Cardinal Paint and Powder, which recently celebrated its first year of operation in Decatur, Industrial Diesel, Aqualine, Goff Capital’s Omega and GT products. 

Holzbog said the additional land will meet the demand of businesses looking to relocate to Decatur. At full build-out, the expanded industrial park would transform Decatur’s tax base.

“The two industrial projects that are currently on the tax rolls — Cardinal and Industrial Diesel — have brought $13.5 million in additional tax value for Decatur’s tax base,” Holzbog said. “If you spread that out over the total 530 acres, once fully developed, this could double our current tax base.”