ADRIAN — The city of Adrian is going to get some free help preparing the Witt Farm site, a city-owned property on the north end of town, for sale and eventual development.

The Witt Farm was purchased by the city 25 years ago with the goal of using it for future development. In that time, although numerous developers have expressed interest at one time or another, only one project has come to fruition — the Gaslight Village assisted living facility, which opened in 2015. Most recently, the Sam Beauford Woodworking Institute has expressed interest in a portion of the property.

Funding for the site preparation work will come from Ann Arbor Spark, an economic development agency that was recently awarded a Strategic Site Readiness Program Grant from the Michigan Strategic Fund. Ann Arbor Spark is willing to spend $111,000  on site readiness activities, with no matching dollars required from the city.

According to Adrian economic development coordinator Jay Marks, the grant will fund various activities to make the parcel more marketable to prospective buyers, including topographic and boundary surveys, conceptual site plans for potential road placements, environmental assessment, a geotechnical assessment, and capacity and utility studies. 

These activities would allow the parcel to be listed as “shovel-ready” by the Michigan Economic Development Corp., a status that should make it more appealing to developers.

The work will be done by the Mannik & Smith Group, which has an office in downtown Adrian. Marks said it should take three to four months.

The Adrian City Commission voted unanimously at its April 7 meeting to accept the Strategic Site Readiness Program grant.