Muncie buys former Walnut St. Concannon’s bakery to control reuse

The city of Muncie is once again buying an empty downtown business property to control its reuse.  As IPR’s Stephanie Wiechmann reports, the city now owns the former Concannon’s store on Walnut Street.

The property is across the street from the new YMCA building and Muncie Central High School.

The storefront has been closed for several years and initially the Muncie Redevelopment Commission considered buying the property.  But last year, the MRC told the Muncie City Council it was going to a private sale instead.

That led Councilwoman Ro Selvey, last December, to angrily push back at MRC member Andrew Dale, who voted against authorizing the MRC to obtain appraisals to purchase the property.

“As a teacher, I am very upset about that.  You had the opportunity as an MRC person to decide what goes across that,” said Selvey.  “And I’ve got news for you: I don’t think you’re going to like what is going to go across from that.”

Dale told Selvey in the December council meeting that he’d prefer to have MRC be given a “right of first refusal” on properties like this building.

Since then, Selvey helped lead an effort to oppose a proposal to turn the site into a gas station. After public opposition, the proposed gas station owner’s application to change the zoning for that land was withdrawn earlier this month.

Now, the mayor’s office says Muncie Mayor Dan Ridenour used the EDIT fund he controls to purchase the property for $650,000.

In a statement, Ridenour says the city wants a site development plan “that reflects Muncie’s vision for the future.”

This is not the first time in recent history that Muncie – through some city channel – has acquired a building to control the property.  In September 2022, it bought the former YMCA building on Mulberry Street.  It then spent thousands of dollars to keep up the utility payments to the building, before awarding a developer a contract in early 2024 to turn the building into apartments and some commercial space.

Under Ridenour, the city also purchased a small house near White River Lofts, once the owner was deceased, to tear down the home for a second proposed phase of the loft project.

And in 2020, Ridenour bought a lake off Tillotson Avenue from a developer to turn it into a public fishing lake.  Construction on that property is just beginning in 2025.

Clarification: This story has been amended to clarify that the MRC voted on obtaining appraisals on buying the Concannon’s building in March 2024, with the end goal to be a purchase.  Dale voted no on authorizing the appraisals.  The vote to approve appraisals passed 3-2, according to MRC minutes.

Stephanie Wiechmann is our Managing Editor and “All Things Considered” Host.  Contact her at [email protected].