A contract for phase 1 excavation and infrastructure work on the Antwerp Square development in Paulding County has been awarded to Ben Kauser Excavating of Antwerp, according to The Crescent-News. The firm's bid of $1,898,556 was the lowest among four regional submissions, and the engineering estimate for the project is $2.3 million.
Greg Bockrath of Bockrath and Associates Engineering and Surveying, LLC, of Ottawa opened the bids for project owner MWB Investments, LLC. The other bidders were VTF Excavation of Celina at $2,620,803.54, Bryan Excavating of Bryan at $2,626,626.97, and Vernon Nagel, Inc., of Napoleon at $2,594,327.40.
Work was expected to start within days if weather allowed, the newspaper reported. Phase 1 covers water, sewer, natural gas, electric, internet and surface drainage improvements across roughly 16.5 acres of the 85-acre site on the village's south side along U.S. 24.
The project will support construction of at least 100 new residential units. Antwerp was one of five projects chosen statewide in the first round of the Ohio Department of Development's Residential Economic Development District grant program, receiving $2.3 million. The village qualified partly because it lies within 20 miles of the First Quality tissue paper mega site in Defiance County.
Paulding County Economic Development Director Tim Copsey said in the report that the effort represents the county's largest residential growth opportunity in decades and could reverse population loss, adding that later phases may include commercial and possibly hotel development.