Clarksville now one step closer to developing new downtown

CLARKSVILLE, Ind. (WDRB) -- Clarksville is one step closer to redeveloping 24 acres of vacant land near Ashland Park.

The Town of Clarksville is now under contract to buy the former Marathon bulk storage site. It's a major step toward bringing the 2016 South Clarksville Redevelopment Plan closer to its goal.

The redevelopment plans call for apartments, restaurants, offices and other businesses to create a new downtown district. Plans are also underway to develop Woerner Avenue.

Clarksville officials made the offer to buy the property last month. Now that the purchase is approved, the town plans to take control of the property by the end of the year. That's when developers will be asked to submit plans to turn it into Clarksville's new downtown.

Plans are also being made to develop Woerner Avenue. The Woerner Avenue Mixed-Use Project could include a 135,000-square-foot building with 96 luxury apartment homes, a restaurant and a ground floor of over 80 office, salon, and micro-retail suites. The former Colgate-Palmolive Co. plant in the same area could become an Aloft hotel.

There have been several attempts to develop this area over the last 25 years, and neighbors had doubts the 2016 Master Plan would ever happen.

"We know something is going to happen," said Peggy Mode Metzger, who lives in Clarksville. "We don't know if we will live long enough for it to happen or not."

The estimated cost to complete all of the projects in the planning stage is upwards of $700 million of public and private money.

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