Buildings 146 and 147. Click here to get the map of the Foreign Trade Zone at the LRA

LRA marks another milestone

The signing of a recently approved contract for property in the Savanna Depot Business, Industry and Technology Park will result in only two buildings remaining available from the Jo-Carroll Depot LRA in the industrial area of the Savanna Depot Park.

The buildings are twin, 7,680 sq. ft. steel storage sheds (photo) that were built for the Army in 1993. At 3297 A and B Crim Drive, they are located on an unnamed gravel road behind the fire station on Crim Drive at the southern end of the Depot Park, south of the BNSF tracks.

The agreement that gave the distinction of "LRA's final two industrial buildings" to the sheds is between the LRA and Ritchie Excavating Service of Savanna. The 10-year, lease-purchase agreement is for a cleaver-shaped wedge of land. The 9 acres include a gas station on Crim Drive, a fenced storage area, and a diesel-powered electric generation plant that was Army-designated for emergency or auxiliary power. The property that Ritchie will be leasing is owned by the Army and is scheduled for transfer to the LRA in 2012.

"Development in the Savanna Depot Park has been a slow dance, rather than a quick march," said Diane Komiskey, LRA Executive Director. "Nevertheless, the LRA is gliding across the floor with its tenants toward economic growth, quality employment and privatization of property, adding to the tax bases of the two counties. Meetings such as those held last week with representatives of our Congressional delegation encourage the LRA to believe that together with their assistance and our tenants, the tempo can increase."

Tenants offer industrial property

While the LRA's supply of industrial buildings is being depleted, some Savanna Depot Park tenants have buildings available in the industrial area. The tenants include Midwest Third Party Logistics of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, a warehousing company, and Riverport Railroad, which is headquartered in the Savanna Depot Park. Riverport Railroad owns 50 miles of rail, stores railcars and operates a switching service with access in the Savanna Depot Park to the BNSF Railway. A transcontinental railroad, the BNSF reportedly moves more intermodal traffic than any other rail system in the world.

LRA offers vacant industrial property

The LRA has approximately 350 acres of vacant land available for lease or purchase in the Depot Park industrial zone (see map). Additional property is available in its commercial area and in a planned unit development where condominiums may be constructed.

New construction possible

Jo-Carroll Energy, a locally owned cooperative, and the Jo-Carroll Depot LRA have begun talks about construction of a spec building in the Depot Park. The talks are temporarily on hold while the LRA revisits the reuse plan it adopted in 1997, considers the current market and updates its vision.

Commercial, residential property

The LRA is an agency established by Jo Daviess and Carroll Counties in 1997 to implement a reuse plan for approximately 2,940 acres of the former Savanna Army Depot Activity. The creation of the LRA was necessitated by the Base Realignment and Closure of 1995, BRAC'95. It resulted in the closing of the 13,062-acre military installation in 2000. The 13-mile long base hugged the Mississippi River in northwest Illinois. Most of the base is earmarked for transfer to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It manages nearly 10,000 acres of the former installation as the Lost Mound Unit of the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge.

LRA

The reuse plan designated 2,786 acres for industrial use1,705 acres in Jo Daviess County and 1,081 in Carroll County90 acres for commercial development and a 54-acre mixed-use planned unit development where light-industrial, commercial and residential uses are permitted. The counties zoned the properties to match their planned uses.

The Army transfers property to the LRA in non-contiguous parcels. The first parcel was transferred to the LRA in August 2003, and the LRA privatized it in December 2003.

The LRA's mission ends when all property earmarked for the LRA has been transferred to it through a No-Cost Economic Development Conveyance, and the LRA has privatized all of the property. The most recent information from the Army shows the last parcel is to be transferred to the LRA in 2015.

As of March 2008, the Army had deeded the LRA 1,031.37 of the 2,940 acres, and the LRA had leased or sold all but approximately 450 acres.

The lease with Ritchie Excavating was discussed by the LRA Board on March 5 when it also:

-Finalized details of a Flexible Spending Account being established for the LRA's three employees.

-Agreed to purchase 300 Austrees from the Jo Daviess County SWCD; the fast-growing trees will be planted in an area between the commercial area and fifteen 38,648-sq. ft. metal "H-Area" warehouses.

-Heard a report on a much-appreciated, 90-minute meeting on March 4 of LRA Board Chairman William McFadden, Komiskey and Downstate Director Anita J. Decker for U.S. Senator Barack Obama and Deputy Downstate Director Sara N. Froelich. The meeting was coordinated and attended by Senator Obama's field representative, Kate Jennings, who also had met with the LRA in early February.

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