$3.6M appraisal accepted for future Bloomington Transit operations center property

Bloomington Transit is moving ahead with a key property purchase. At its March 24 meeting, the Bloomington Transit board heard from BT general manager John Connell that the planned acquisition of land for construction of BT’s future new operations center has cleared a big hurdle.

McConnell told the board that an appraisal has been completed that pegs the value of the property at $3.6 million. That figure is less than the $3.8 million that had been budgeted, McConnell said.

This week, Connell confirmed to The B Square that the owner of the property, BB Profile, LLC, has accepted the appraisal at $3.6 million. Connell said that for the 2027 budget, BT plans to allocate $20 million to start construction on the first part of the project.

The property is located on the northeast corner of Curry Pike and Profile Parkway on the western outskirts of Bloomington. It was previously owned by Westinghouse, and has a history of PCB contamination. At the board’s August 2025 meeting, BT general manager John Connell told the board that in one of the 10 borings done on the property, PCBs were found in amounts that exceed an allowable threshold. That led to more borings to determine the extent of the contamination.

At the board’s meeting last December, Connell said that depending on the final site design, it might be possible to leave the contaminated area undisturbed—which would make the effective cleanup cost zero. He added that Bloomington Transit now knows the exact location and magnitude of the contamination, and that information will be factored into the project’s design and costs.

At the March 24 meeting, Connell said Federal Transit Administration Region 5 staff have told BT that everything appears to be in order for a formal purchase agreement.

One outstanding step is a “comfort letter” from the Indiana Finance Authority, which would help protect the agency from future environmental liability, Connell said. The authority has indicated by email that it intends to issue that letter, and BT wants it in hand before closing, according to Connell.

Bloomington Transit is looking to move its operations from the Grimes Lane location, because it doesn’t have enough space there to house its expanding fleet, to handle increased frequencies and a planned new Green Line crosstown east-west express route. The fleet will also soon include three longer, articulated buses to handle the volume of passengers on some of its routes.

At the board’s March 24 meeting, Bloomington Transit general manager John Connell showed photos that manufacturer New Flyer had sent, of the agency’s three new 60-foot articulated buses on the assembly line, with their frames being welded together. Bloomington Transit’s regular fixed-route buses are 40 feet long.

The buses are part of a $3.5 million contract with New Flyer. Connell told the board the vehicles are expected to be completed within six to seven weeks. The longer articulated buses are intended to help accommodate heavier ridership on routes serving the Indiana University campus. They will be put into service in time for the fall 2026 semester, Connell said.

Also part of the impetus to get more space for operations is BT’s desire to build climate-controlled storage for its all-electric new buses. Climate controlled storage helps with battery performance. It’s part of a push to convert BT’s entire fleet to all-electric vehicles. There isn’t room on its current footprint at Grimes Lane to construct a climate controlled facility that would be outside the FEMA floodway.

The change in the location for the operations center does not impact BT’s downtown transit center at 3rd and Walnut streets.