UPDATE: Construction projects to commemorate the state’s bicentennial anniversary remain on hold as the future of a wireless agreement between the State of Indiana and Ohio-based Agile Networks remains cloudy.
In South Bend, Indiana, a proposed inn at Potato Creek State Park in nearby North Liberty, Indiana, is one such project as the state scrambles to find alternative funding. The proposed inn was announced two years ago by then Governor Mike Pence, and would cost an estimated $24 million.
A deal was announced in December, with Agile Networks, as Inside Towers reported, for the state to lease space on its cell towers to Agile. The twenty-five year deal would have been worth $260 million in revenue and Pence planned to fund the bicentennial projects with the revenue generated from the agreement.
But the deal received significant pushback from cable and telecom companies after it was revealed the agreement included the state’s fiber inventory and access to the state’s right-of-way along 200 miles of highway, reports the South Bend Tribune. In light of this pushback, the deal’s future remains in jeopardy and it has yet to come before the State Budget Committee.
There have been several discussions over the past 17 years regarding the construction of the inn at Potato Creek State Park, including in 2000, 2005 and 2009. The project remains on hold as the current governor Eric Holcomb evaluates the agreement, as well as alternative means of funding the planned projects.
“He’s evaluating the entire deal,” the governor’s spokeswoman Stephanie Wilson told the South Bend Tribune.
February 8, 2017
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