By Ken de la Bastide
PERU — Instead of showing movies or hosting vendors for a flea market, a Miami County site could become home to a new commercial development.
North of Kokomo on U.S. 31 sits the former Kokomo Drive-In theater, which more recently has housed a flea market in the Bunker Hill area of Miami County. The site contains approximately 20 acres.
The Miami County Council passed a resolution last week to designate the property as an economic revitalization area. A public hearing to finalize the designation will take place at 6:45 p.m. April 20.
The resolution states the council has determined that normal development and occupancy on the property has been impossible because of a lack of development, cessation of growth, deterioration of improvements, age, substandard and obsolete buildings.
Jim Tidd, executive director of the Miami County Economic Development Authority, said Friday there is an interest in the property and any incentives, such as tax abatements, that may be available.
“The incentives are not automatic,” he said, “this is a preliminary step.”
Tidd said there may continue to be some interest in the property and the county is putting the pieces in place for any potential future development.
The interested parties, which were not disclosed, would use the property for commercial or light industrial use, according to Tidd.
He said there are no public utilities, such as water and sewage, at the site. Tidd noted there is a well and septic system on the property and noted that, for a company that doesn’t require large amounts of water, the lack of public utilities would not be a problem.
Tidd said one advantage for the location is a highway cut to the site on U.S. 31 already exists, which allows access from both the north and south lanes.
