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Mount Pleasant: 95% of private land purchased for Foxconn

Posted at 6:51 PM, Apr 24, 2018
and last updated 2018-04-24 22:41:25-04

The Village of Mount Pleasant said they're closing in on the land needed for the massive Foxconn plant.

Mount Pleasant has purchased 95 percent of the private property that sits inside phase one of the Foxconn project.

Howard Luxner has lived in a ranch style home along Highway H and KR for the past 17 years.

"Peaceful, yeah, we’ve enjoyed it," Luxner said.

On Friday, what he had been expecting for the past 6 months became a reality.

"It’s about to hit us, we’re about ready to pack up and move here," he said.

Luxner voluntarily sold his home to Mount Pleasant for Foxconn development.

"It’s been a little bit of a roller coaster, but not too bad," he said. "We knew progress was coming and here it is."

The focus right now is on phase one, where a million-square-foot manufacturing building will be built over the next year along Highway H.

About a month ago, Mount Pleasant upped the ante for property owners inside phase one of the Foxconn project to voluntarily sell by offering 140 percent of the assessed value for homes and $50,000 per acre of vacant land.

"We didn’t want to miss out on what they were giving," Luxner said.

Mount Pleasant said 20 homeowners have yet to come to terms, including Luxner’s neighbor the Mahoneys. TODAY'S TMJ4 has been followingtheir battle with the village since December.

"We have about $385,000 into this house," said Kim Mahoney.

According to the village, those who are holding out are affected by roadway projects and will be acquired as construction expands. The Mahoneys live near Highway H, which is being reconstructed into four lanes right up to the Foxconn site.

"It’s 550 feet from the road," Mahoney said. "We’ve been told repeatedly that we’re not affected by the expansion of Highway H, however they’re still trying to include us in the acquisition of our property due to roadway projects."

Mahoney said the offer they’ve received doesn’t allow them to rebuild in a similar area with all the upgrades they currently have.