From the Evergreen Courant:
The Conecuh County Commission approved the purchase of a 123-acre piece of property earlier this week with an eye toward luring a prospective new industry to the county.
During a commission meeting Tuesday morning at the Conecuh County Courthouse in Evergreen, commissioners formally approved the purchase of a 123-acre site owned by Louisiana-Pacific Corp. and Pactiv. The property, which is located on County Road 29, also known as the Owassa Road, sold for a grand total of $10.
According to Conecuh County Economic Development Director Jeff Taylor, the property is appraised for around $185,000 and the purchase price had been set as high as $1 million. Taylor said that he was able to negotiate the price down to $10 after convincing the owners that they could get the dormant property off their books and help Conecuh County at the same time.
The industrial site, which has been dormant for years, is what Taylor calls a “blue chip” site because it is about two miles from the interstate with easy access to a nearby port.
“There are only a handful of sites like this one in the entire Southeast, and only two or three in all of Alabama,” Taylor said. “It’s a hot commodity.”
Taylor noted that it’s commonly known that the site is considered contaminated, but that doesn’t mean that it’s unusable. Only one acre of the entire property is considered contaminated and the only restriction on that acre is that residential homes can’t be built there.
Taylor said he worked closely with officials from the Alabama Department of Environmental Management to research the property, and they determined that the site can still be used for industrial purposes.
“If you go there today, the site is generally flat and green,” Taylor said. “It’s very healthy looking.”
Taylor said he was also happy to report that he already has several industrial prospects interested in the site, and he hopes to have even more good news about the site in the months to come.