Ground broken on new city subdivision

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

A ribboncutting/groundbreaking ceremony was held Friday for the first phase of The Landing at Dickinson Farms subdivision north of the Van Wert High School-Middle School complex.

The original investors in the project, Scott Niswonger, Andy Czajkowski, Tom Turnwald, and Chuck Koch, as well as representatives of recently added investment partner, JATS LLC, based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, were on hand to officially celebrate the beginning of development of the project.

Koch said adding JATS to the investment group was a good move because of their expertise in building projects.

“They’ve been very instrumental in the building market in Fort Wayne,” Koch said. “They reconstituted the Anthony Wayne Bank Building downtown into condos … they’ve been involved in a lot of major projects and moving Fort Wayne forward.”

Niswonger talked about the importance of the project in providing affordable mid-range housing for Van Wert.

“All the guys at what we’re now calling G5 Partners talked about that, and we thought it was critical for the growth of Van Wert to be able to have affordable housing for young people to step into,” Niswonger said. “I think it’s going to bring a lot of value, not only to Van Wert as we know it today, but to employers that are looking for communities that are really sustainable in the future.”

Niswonger also talked about plans to build a combination YMCA/YWCA on the site — an idea that was actually the catalyst for the entire project.

While exercising at the downtown YMCA, Turnwald noted the facility’s dilapidated condition and wondered about the possibility of building a new YMCA near the schools on Ohio 118. He approached the Dickinson family at the time about selling land for such a project, but the family wasn’t ready to sell any land at that time. Turnwald was persistent, though, and the Dickinsons eventually decided that they would not only sell a plot for a YMCA, but were interested in selling the entire 160-acre plot.

The original G4 Partners investment group was then formed by Turnwald, Niswonger, Koch, and Czajkowski to purchase the land. The idea for the subdivision came later as investors began thinking about what to do with the property.

Koch said the first phase of the project would encompass approximately 40 acres of the 160-acre subdivision and provide around 68 lots available for new home construction by custom home builder Granite Ridge Builders of Fort Wayne.

“Hopefully, Mother Nature will cooperate and we’ll start seeing some progress real soon,” he noted.

Home prices, Koch added, will range from a low of $160,000 to whatever somebody wants to pay.

Tony Reincke, owner of Granite Ridge Builders, said the company is in the business of constructing custom homes and will bring a commitment to quality to the local housing project.

“We have the ability to do it all,” Reincke said. “We’re very, very custom; what I mean by that is that, when people come in, our plans are unlimited.”

Unlike many subdivisions, where the houses are mostly cookie-cutter versions of each other, Reincke said houses in The Landing at Dickinson Farms subdivision will each be a unique design. Plans are to build a number of model homes in the subdivision in the relatively near future.

Among the first houses constructed in the subdivision will be several “villaminiums” — houses that, like condominiums, would include a maintenance agreement with Granite Ridge that would provide normal exterior maintenance, such as mowing and snow removal, for a monthly fee of approximately $120-$150 a month.

For more information on Granite Ridge and home designs, call 260.490.1417 or access the Granite Ridge website at www.graniteridgebuilders.com. Reincke said those interested can also stop by the Granite Ridge corporate offices at 1020 Woodland Plaza Run in Fort Wayne. The offices also include a 15,000-square-foot showroom that includes a building education area providing information on all phases of home construction.

Czajkowski said all of those at the groundbreaking should thank the Dickinson family for deciding to sell the land.

“They are really why this is all going to happen,” he noted.

In addition to thanking the Dickinson family, Koch also thanked Van Wert City and Vantage school boards and local government entities for signing off on a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) agreement that will help fund infrastructure improvements to the property.

“If it weren’t for that, we wouldn’t be standing here today, so we would like to recognize both school boards for their cooperative effort, along with Van Wert City Council and the (Van Wert County Board of) Commissioners’ office, for all of their support,” he said.

Mayor Jerry Mazur also thanked the investors and noted the project should be very beneficial to the city’s financial situation.

“We have a budget that is strained, but we see that, with the development of these houses and the two-income families coming in here, we’re going to climb out of the hole financially,” he said.