Bartholomew County to sell former highway garage property to Columbus

The Bartholomew County government is agreeing to a deal to sell its former county highway garage on State Street to the city of Columbus Redevelopment Commission.

A letter of intent between the two was approved yesterday by the county commissioners. According to the agreement, the city will pay just over $1 million for the property. That was the average of two outside appraisals of the property’s worth.

Commissioners said that the city’s proposal was attractive because it wanted to take the entire property, unlike other potential buyers who only wanted part of the property. And the city has good prospects of finding a use for the property that would be a benefit to the community, they said.

Commissioners Carl Lienhoop said that there have been various spills at the property over the 60+ years it was in use and will likely need some environmental remediation there and the city government would be able to facilitate that.

As part of the agreement the county would continue to be able to use the existing salt barn on State Street through October of next year.

The county moved to its new garage on rural 25th Street in 2022 after State Street location was declared as functionally obsolete. Originally built in the 1950s, county officials said at the time of the move that the State Street property was not big enough to expand the existing building.