Ind. to get 1st nursery for native plants

A new nursery is coming to the Bloomington area, not for children, but for the cultivation of native plants.

Eco Logic, a Bloomington-founded company dedicated to the restoration and management of ecological services, will establish a headquarters for southern Indiana’s first native plant nursery.

“Eco Logic plans on adding eight new jobs to the county in the first 36 months of the project,” said Spencer Goehl, executive director of Eco Logic. “We will also be providing native plants for use in the landscapes.”

These jobs, Goehl said, will help developers meet the landscape ordinances set by the Monroe County Council.

“Because many native plants are drought resistant, this will help Monroe County minimize water use in our landscapes,” Goehl said. “This will take much-needed pressure off our water treatment plant during dry summers.”

Aided financially by the Monroe County Council, Eco Logic is working with the nonprofit Bloomington Economic Development Corporation to establish the operations facility. BEDC works with the Monroe County market.

“We helped the Eco Logic project with economic impact reports and values of the jobs created,” said Dana Palazzo, project manager of BEDC. “We work with officials to better understand the value of the company and help Eco Logic through phase one of their project.”

Goehl said the company is paying for the project with financing from a local bank and has been granted tax abatements on any improvements made to the property in Monroe County.

“Over a 10-year period they will give us a 90 percent discount in year one, 80 percent in year two, etc., until we pay full in year 10,” Goehl said. “The program is to help businesses start, expand or relocate to create jobs.”

The company operates in Kentucky, Illinois, Ohio and Indiana. The headquarters opening in Monroe County intends to bring outside money and people to the area,
Palazzo said.

“It (Eco Logic) is such a unique business and the only one in southern Indiana,” Palazzo said. “It is growing and beneficial to the county as a whole.”

For the new facilities in Monroe County, the Eco Logic Company will construct greenhouses and maintenance services for the growth of plants.

The nursery will be built at 8685 Vernal Pike, Goehl said.

“We are constructing our new headquarters and nursery production facilities in spring of 2013,” Goehl said. “The nursery retail center, with native plant display gardens and native restoration areas, will be constructed
in 2015.”