The city of Hillsdale announced the sale of 180 acres in the Hillsdale Manufacturing and Technology park to private developers, said Mayor Adam Stockford.
Commonwealth Development is purchasing 30 acres of this land and is in the preliminary planning stages for the property. Rick Jenkins, general manager at Stoll Construction, said Stoll is working with Commonwealth Development to discuss purposes for the land, but will likely build a housing development.
Rolling Meadow Farms, LLC plans to purchase the other 150 acres of the property. According to Hillsdale Mayor Adam Stockford, Rolling Meadow Farms is continuing to lease the property for agricultural use until they establish permanent plans for the land.
Hillsdale-based real estate agent Christie Plemmons worked with both the city and the two buyers to negotiate the terms of the sale. The City of Hillsdale hired both Christie Plemmons Realty and her husband, Mike Plemmons’ company–Michigan Whitetail Properties–to sell the 180 acres to private developers.
“The city contacted us earlier in the fall,” Plemmons said. “They notified us a while later that they had chosen us to be the listing agents.”
The Plemmons said they focused most of their advertising online using drone footage and other media to get the property listing in front of as many people as possible. Both buyers contacted Plemmons and began negotiations, according to Plemmons.
Describing how beneficial these new developments– specifically Rolling Meadows Farm’s 130 acres– will be for the local community, Plemmons expressed her excitement for these new developments to begin.
“They plan to purchase the land and then take some time to get to know Hillsdale as a community and identify what the best use of the property is for Hillsdale,” Plemmons said.
Plemmons said she believes Rolling Meadow Farms is invested in maintaining the integrity of the city and benefiting the local population. Plemmons said she is confident that this investment can help Hillsdale grow.
Stockford also said he is excited for the land deal and emphasized the importance of putting land into the hands of private developers.
“This was the biggest land sale in our city’s history,” Stockford said. “We’ve been trying to sell industrial lots since we’ve owned them. Government isn’t and shouldn’t be in real estate speculation. It rarely works out well.”
Stockford said one of his goals as mayor is to divest the city’s unnecessary responsibilities, like caring for and maintaining huge plots of land, in order to focus on the basics of government. When the city of Hillsdale owns land, the people’s taxes are paying to maintain it instead of being used to improve roads and other necessities, according to Stockford.
“We’ve got our city parks, which are for the enjoyment of all, and our government buildings,” Stockford said. “But outside of that, I’d really like to continue to focus on putting more of our land into private hands.”
Stockford explained that public land sales create a competitive private market among existing businesses. These sales allow the local government to invest more money into the city services and keep the community moving forward.
“With this single deal, we have doubled the tax revenue in our industrial park,” Stockford said. “We’ve got bright days ahead.”
