Marketing a former nerve gas site

October 29, 2009
Back to TopCommentsE-mailPrint

Here’s a challenge for a savvy brokerage.

Vermillion County in western Indiana is preparing to take over the Newport Chemical Depot, where the Army stored nerve gas for a number of years.

About 3,500 acres of the site is expected to be redeveloped for business in the next couple of years. Destruction of the gas was completed last year.

But with a stigma like that, who would want to locate there?

Barbara Coles, who runs a public relations firm in Indianapolis, says the site will need to be marketed with transparency, honesty and lots of facts to overcome the stigma. One more time: Lots of facts.

Several independent sources will need to be called in to verify the site is safe based on verifiable tests. “You need to go in feeling very, very comfortable with the credibility and the facts,” Coles says.

She also would price it at fair market value to remove any suspicion the site has so much as a trace of unsafe chemicals.

How would you pitch the site? Will it be any harder to market than a house where a grisly murder took place?

 

ADVERTISEMENT
  • IndymanOctober 29, 2009 2:13 PM
    That place is probably cleaner than your grandmas kitchen table. A friend who worked for a local health department would always eat at a restaurant shortly after it got dinged for major health violations. Is reasoning is it will never be cleaner. Same with Newport. After going through the Army's environmental wringer, it will be squeaky clean.
    Reply to CommentFlag Comment
  • Agreed
    MikeWNovember 2, 2009 10:20 PM
    I agree, it's fine. They do such good scrub downs and elimination of contaminents that it would be usable for anything right now. That's not the problem, the problem is the location. There is a reason it was in the middle of nowhere near a few power plants to destroy a chemical agent. Desolote. The only thing I could see it for is a Major Multi-modal facility. You've got the track infrastructure there, in the middle of massive amounts of grain, close enough to Chicago without being too far, near Danville and Champaign spurs, close to Terre Haute and close to Indianapolis and Springfield. That would be the best option.

    That or a massive mother ship of all ethanol plants - like a distribution pipeline center for ethanol. Those are the only two options.

    Reply to CommentFlag Comment

Post a comment to this blog

COMMENTS POLICY
We reserve the right to remove any post that we feel is obscene, profane, vulgar, racist, sexually explicit, abusive, or hateful.
 
You are legally responsible for what you post and your anonymity is not guaranteed.
 
Posts that insult, defame, threaten, harass or abuse other readers or people mentioned in IBJ editorial content are also subject to removal. Please respect the privacy of individuals and refrain from posting personal information.
 
No solicitations, spamming or advertisements are allowed. Readers may post links to other informational websites that are relevant to the topic at hand, but please do not link to objectionable material.
 
We may remove messages that are unrelated to the topic, encourage illegal activity, use all capital letters or are unreadable.
 

Messages that are flagged by readers as objectionable will be reviewed and may or may not be removed. Please do not flag a post simply because you disagree with it.

ADVANCED SEARCH
Sponsored by
ADVERTISEMENT

  1. Saw the Indy Men's Chorus "Music of Gilbert & Sullivan" at the Indiana Historical Society on Sunday evening.

  2. Temporary workers are not "tools" they are people and companies that keep large amounts of temp staff are cheating.

  3. I miss having them around. I hope one of their stores is in the general Meridian/86th Street area. I will make good use of it.

  4. The Fringe! Plus, the simple fact that there are so many local faves in such close proximity to each other.

  5. I remenber, watching the toll road, being built, through South Bend, when I was 10 years old. I believe, back then that it was estimated, that the toll road, would be paid for in 20 years and then it would be free. I am now 71, what happened? Since the power is in the people, by that, I mean that, we the people are in total control of everything. I, suggest that no one ever use the toll road again, let it go broke. We the people can control the price of everything, from groceries to gas, if we would just do it. If we don't pay the asking price, the sellers will lower the price and if we wait awhile, they will lower the price to what we accept as reasonable. I would like to know why a highway like interstate 94, is so well maintained, a much better highway, than the toll road, but has no tolls. I would also like to know why, a sitting governor, with a term limit, maximum of eight years, can lease, public property, for 75 years. Even though I have transponders in both of my trucks and will not be affected by the increase, I have been and will contine to avoid using the toll road. I make many trips from northern Indiana to Chicago, every year, and I prefer the better highway, I94!

ADVERTISEMENT