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$653K state grant helped City of Versailles sell new industrial park, mayor says

This farmland purchased by the City of Versailles for $2.5 million for a second industrial park was sold to a developer in August for $6.5 million, and Mayor Brian Traugott says a $653,000 state matching grant for infrastructure work there was a key selling point.
John McGary
/
WEKU
This farmland purchased by the City of Versailles for $2.5 million for a second industrial park was sold to a developer in August for $6.5 million, and Mayor Brian Traugott says a $653,000 state matching grant for infrastructure work there was a key selling point.

Two other grants worth a total of 182-thousand dollars will help pay to resurface two roads near the middle school and new high school, which will open after Christmas of 2024.

Woodford County and the city of Versailles will benefit from nearly a million dollars' worth of state grants announced Friday. A 653-thousand-dollar Kentucky Product Development Initiative grant for the Edgewood Industrial Park for water and sewer improvements will be matched by the city, according to Versailles Mayor Brian Traugott.

“TKC Distilling has entered into a contract purchase that property in no small part due to our commitment to spend $1.3 million and improving water and wastewater infrastructure out there.”

When the city paid $2.5 million for 118 acres of farmland in the hopes of converting it to an industrial park, some thought city leaders were taking a big risk. However, with help from the county to obtain what became the matching grant to improve infrastructure there, in August, the city struck a deal to sell it for $6.5 million.

“Cities and counties will get into the industrial development mainly so they can control their destiny, figure out who the end user is going to be put necessary restrictions. Usually, it's not done to turn a profit like that.”

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John McGary is a Lexington native and Navy veteran with three decades of radio, television and newspaper experience.
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