City beats county to buy Bolden’s

By STU CLAMPITT
news@readthereporter.com

The sale of the Bolden’s Dry Cleaners building, 151 N. 8^th St., Noblesville, became a point of contention between Hamilton County and Noblesville city officials. The future of that building is now in the hands of the City of Noblesville, which says that property will be the site of commercial development.

The Reporter reached out to both Noblesville Mayor Chris Jensen and Hamilton County Commissioner Steve Dillinger to clean up some of the confusion and misinformation that has stained public perception of both the city and county over this property’s future.

The county commissioners have been looking at the buildings currently housing Erika’s Place and attorney Mike Howard’s law firm – both on the north side of Logan Street between the Logan Street parking lot and 8^th Street – as one of several potential sites of a future annex to the Hamilton County Government and Judicial Center.

Bolden’s sits just north of those properties, separated from them by the last functional spur of the Nickel Plate rail line in downtown Noblesville.

Mayor Jensen has been clear that he doesn’t want more county-owned property on the riverfront downtown.

Jensen

“One of my biggest campaign promises was to protect and enhance downtown Noblesville, and I firmly believe that downtown Noblesville is the heart of our community,” Jensen told The Reporter. “The small businesses that make up downtown Noblesville are the backbone of our economy, and it should remain a destination for tourists, for residents, for shoppers to come and enjoy.”

Jensen said he knew Bolden’s was being sold and he was moved to act when he heard the county was interested in expanding their downtown real estate footprint with that building.

“I knew Bolden’s was for sale for a while,” Jensen said. “I got all my dry cleaning there, and they’re great, great people. I had heard through the rumor mill a few weeks ago that the county was interested in buying it. I have gone on record as saying that I don’t think we need to have more county property on our riverfront in downtown Noblesville. We should have more businesses and attractions downtown. So, we’re moving forward to purchase Bolden’s. We have a signed purchase agreement that we’ll be executing, not for the city to hold on to, but to work with the development community to turn it into a great asset for our downtown.”

Dillinger, also a Bolden’s customer, knew the building was for sale for some time.

Dillinger

“I’ve known the Boldens for years and years,” Dillinger told The Reporter. “I get all my cleaning done there and I kept seeing notices on the door where they were going to close.”

After speaking to one of the owners and learning it was only the building and not the business that was up for sale, Dillinger expressed interest in the property.

“I said, let me talk to my fellow commissioners and my council and I’ll get back with you,” Dillinger said. “The next opportunity we had to talk, I mentioned it to Mark [Heirbrandt] and Christine [Altman]. They thought it was a good idea because it’s kind of right in the middle of everything we’re thinking about doing. And the council thought it was too. There was nothing official about anything. So I went back over and talked to her and I said, look, we are interested in it and the council is willing to appropriate the money, but we’re not going to do anything until you give me the go ahead. The next thing I knew, I got a call from Chris Jensen and he was upset that we were buying the Bolden property. That was a week ago last Monday. And I said, well, I’m sorry, but we kind of have a handshake deal and we feel like we need the property.”

Jensen, on the other hand, told The Reporter he prefers government action be documented.

“There’s multiple bodies that have to give the green light to move this forward,” Jensen said. “So the council action has been taken and so now it goes on to the other bodies. In the year 2023, when you’re making business decisions with people’s tax dollars, it shouldn’t be handshakes. It should be written down agreements. I firmly believe that. That’s how I try to make sure I’m managing money that’s not mine on a daily basis, is to make sure I’m doing it securely and properly. So, I don’t know anything about handshake agreements. Again, I just don’t believe an expansion of government footprint on prime real estate is the best use in our downtown. And I think I speak on behalf of business owners, as well.”

Dillinger was clear that he is frustrated and disappointed in how this has become a multi-jurisdictional argument.

“I hate it,” Dillinger said. “I told Mark when he called me about this. I said, Mark, you know, the last thing we need is for there to be a big battle between the county and Noblesville, which is a county seat. I’ve been a commissioner for 34 years and we’ve never had this situation. So it’s really distressing because this is kind of the way Washington works. I don’t approve of the way Washington works and I don’t like to see our own community be involved in it. I will say that I can’t imagine what went through the city’s head to try to buy buildings from underneath us when they knew we had a deal. I just don’t understand.”

According to Jensen, what went through the city’s head was preventing more of downtown from turning into government land instead of private property.

“The county government sits on, I believe, about 195 acres of untaxable land in the city of Noblesville,” Jensen said. “So, you can imagine that anything that takes additional land off the tax rolls is concerning to me. Now, do I think we need to have the proper space for our judicial system going forward? Absolutely. I think there are other properties, and it’s a big county, and there are other places that we could work together to find resolution here. It doesn’t have to be riverfront property in downtown. I also believe, as a small government conservative, that he who governs least governs best. So, I just don’t think we need to be expanding our footprint.”

Dillinger and Jensen have reportedly not spoken about this since city council action was taken last week to buy the property with the eventual goal of putting it back into hands of developers in the private sector.

“I have not talked to Chris about it, nor will I probably talk to him about it because, well, there’s no point at this time. You know, there’s no point. And it would probably get pretty heated. I’ve had a reputation, I guess, of keeping myself under control and I’m not going to put myself in a position where I wouldn’t be under control. I just can’t fathom that this has even happened.”

It happened because two government entities with widely different goals were talking to a landowner but not to one another.

It happened because the county wanted another piece of land in a city that doesn’t want the county to own more land close to the riverfront downtown.

It happened because the city and county failed to be good neighbors to one another and thus to their electorate.