Geneva Council grants more time to engineer massive industrial building, plus incentive for Venture One

The Geneva City Council Monday approved an extension of its site plan approval for Venture One Acquisitions LLC, which proposes to build a 719,200-square-foot industrial building on the city’s east side.

The site plan for Venture One expires June 24, records show.

The zoning ordinance allows site plan approval to be in effect for one year, unless a building permit is issued and construction begun, City Administrator Stephanie Dawkins said.

“The applicant has submitted a request to extend site plan approval for 12 months to allow time to finalize coordination efforts with the end user,” Dawkins said.

A letter from Justin Galante of Venture One said: “While progress has continued, certain project components require further refinement to ensure alignment with municipal and county requirements.”

Also on Monday, the Council gave final approval to an economic incentive agreement in $250,000 of reduced city fees, also for Venture One.

In June 2024, the city annexed 55.62 acres located generally east of Kirk Road between Old Kirk Road to the north and Fabyan Parkway to the south.

In proposing what amounted to a mega warehouse, the annexation was controversial. The vote was split 7-3 at the time, with Mayor Kevin Burns also voting in favor.

As proposed last year, the project was going to feature 119 dock positions, four drive-in doors, 555 car parking spaces and 145 trailer parking spaces, records show.

The company now proposes about half the truck docks, eliminating all trailer parking and construction will be certified in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, documents show.

As revised for a built-to-suit tenant to use as corporate headquarters, the project would include office, manufacturing and warehousing components for a term of not less than 12 years, as per a contingent lease for a build-to-suit tenant, records show.

Without naming the tenant, records show Venture One’s contingent lease is “with a fourth generation family-owned and operated company with numerous locations worldwide, recognized for high quality design and services.”