The Carmel City Council voted 8-0 Nov. 21 to give the green light to the Carmel Redevelopment Commission to purchase a home at 311 W. Main St. for $346,000.
The purchase will be made through the 2021 tax increment financing bond, which requires council approval for all CRC land purchases that are greater than $50,000.
The CRC does not have a specific project proposed for the site but plans to aggregate adjacent single-family parcels as they become available so redevelopment can occur in the future.
“This is clearly a property that is important to a continuation of our Arts & Design District,” CRC Director Henry Mestetsky said. “It’s one of those things that a private developer is not likely to spend the effort and time that it takes to aggregate multiple parcels, but this is the kind of thing a redevelopment commission could do.”
The CRC is working with landowners to purchase the parcels and will not consider eminent domain, Mestetsky said. The $346,000 purchase price is the average of two appraisals on the property, which Mestetsky called “a really good deal” for the city.
