Zionsville council to vote on $650K property deal

The town of Zionsville is poised to buy a former PNC Bank branch at the south end of its historic Main Street.

Town Council members are set to vote May 6 on a $650,000 appropriation to purchase the property, which also includes a parking lot that houses the Zionsville Farmers Market. (Update: Council approved the expense, but the deal has not been finalized.)

The money would come from the town’s Rainy Day Fund, which had a balance of about $1.65 million in April, according to a resolution prepared for the Town Council meeting.

At an agenda-setting meeting this week, council member Steve Mundy said negotiations are ongoing, so the final offer could be lower than PNC's $650,000 asking price, according to the Zionsville Times-Sentinel. Authorizing the maximum possible expenditure would allow the deal to be finalized before the council meets again next month.

Pittsburgh-based PNC Financial Services Group Inc. closed its branch at 390 S. Main St. earlier this year. It has another location on West Oak Street west of downtown.

Zionsville officials expressed interest in buying the property for redevelopment when it went on the market. The lot is at the corner of Main and Sycamore streets, a prime location in the town’s Village Business District.

The town already leases the parking lot to the north of the bank branch for $1,000 a year, making it available for public parking and the farmers market.

“It is very important to businesses to have that parking available,” Town Council President Jeff Papa said.

Plans for the rest of the property weren’t immediately clear.

As IBJ reported April 27, officials are commissioning an extensive market study they hope will identify the right mix of businesses for the downtown district. There’s even talk of extending the brick Main Street south to 106th Street, providing a better link to commercial development expected there.

If that happens, the PNC property could be a key connection. How do you think it should be used?