A building larger than the nearly 1 million-square-foot Amazon.com Inc.fulfillment center could be coming to the 6,000-acre River Ridge Commerce Center in Jeffersonville.

At its regular monthly meeting on Monday evening, the River Ridge Development Authority’s board of directors, which manages the operations of the business park, authorized a negotiation to sell nearly 80 acres of undeveloped land to a confidential prospect for $60,000 per acre

The prospective buyer has proposed constructing a 1.5 million-square-foot building industrial warehouse. No details were released to hint at the possible use.

The authority also approved a second land negotiation to sell nearly 7 acres next to the existing BriovaRx facility for $120,000 per acre, also to a confidential prospect. That prospect has the option to purchase an additional 3.76 acres at $120,000 per acre.

If a deal is reached, the land would house a new 50,000-square-foot medical care facility that is expandable to 68,000 square feet.

The board took action on a few other items during the meeting:

  • Amended a previous resolution to sell about 33 acres off Paul Garrett Avenue and Patrol Road to a confidential prospect for $65,000 per acre. The prospective buyer plans to build a 458,640-square-foot warehouse. Under the amended resolution, the River Ridge board will provide a $250,000 credit so the company can relocate a water main and remove several sinkholes.
  • Approved a resolution to sell an 0.720-acre parcel to Canada-based Jim Pattison Developments Inc. for $43,200. That firm had previously purchased about 22 acres to construct a facility for one of its own companies, New York-based Genpak LLC, which provides disposable packaging for the food-service industry. The new parcel is connected to that land but was unavailable for purchase until the U.S. Army recently deeded it to River Ridge.
  • Awarded a $2.7 million contract to Louisville’s T&C Contracting Inc. to complete phase two of the International Drive extension from around the American Fuji Seal Inc. facility to a new heavy haul road that is under construction. That work should be finished by the third quarter of 2016.

Also, River Ridge general counsel David Lewis announced that the board has settled a lawsuit with Mid-America Storage & Leasing Inc. River Ridge officials had sought to use eminent domain to remove rail lines that Mid-America leases. River Ridge said it wanted to make room for prospective development.

Under the terms of the agreement, Lewis said, River Ridge will pay $25 per linear foot to remove any rail it deems necessary.

Marty Finley covers economic development, commercial real estate, government, education and sports business.

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