The Bondurant City Council has approved preliminary plans by a Central Iowa developer to develop 19 industrial lots south of U.S. Highway 65 on the city’s northeast edge, adjacent to the Bondurant Business Park.

The plan, by Paramount Land Development Co., calls for the development of lots that include space for outside storage, said Jamie Myers, president of the company.

Myers said Paramount, which developed the Bondurant Business Park, purchased the nearly 80 acres of land a couple of years ago. It was still farmed up until this fall. Excavation for road extensions and sewer work will begin this spring, he said.

According to city documents, the new development will include lots ranging in size from about 0.8 acres to more than 8.6 acres.

It’s that flexibility that makes the site attractive for development, Myers said.

He said the initial plan is to build-to-suit for a company.

“If that’s what the customer wants to do, we leave it open,” Myers said. “If they would like to buy and build their own, that’s fine, but if they’d rather lease a facility, then we’ll work with our architects and engineers to design a building that suits their needs and build it for them and lease it over a 10-year period or something with an option to renew.”

The property’s location and the size of the lots make it attractive for companies that need storage for equipment and supplies, Myers said.

“It is zoned M-2 [medium industrial], which allows us to sell to individuals or companies who have a need for outdoor storage, maybe a roofing company that needs to store things outside, or a lumber company or plumbing company that has a lot of pipe, or it could be a grading or excavation company that needs a yard for equipment,” he said.

The Bondurant City Council approved the preliminary plat for the site on Jan. 2.

The Bondurant Business Park Plat 1 is 11 lots, only two of which are available for development, Myers said.

The proximity to Paramount’s existing business park made development of the new site “a natural fit to extend roads and infrastructure because it joined a property we had already developed,” Myers said.

A larger warehouse user was under contract to buy and develop the site, but they backed out as the economy changed, Myers said.

“So we’re running out of lots and we have an appetite from companies ranging from anywhere from over an acre and a quarter to 5 acres to up to 10 acres that need parcels to build for their business,” he said. “We’ve already got some interested parties that are already doing some due diligence on it for their own use. We’re cautiously optimistic as we move forward that as we develop it here in the spring and get streets in, and get transacting with some lots real soon.”

Myers said the site’s visibility from the highway should make it attractive for companies looking to move or expand.

“It has visibility for companies who might have a need for a customer to find them,” he said. “Secondly, it has easy access for employees to get to work and back onto the highway, and then there’s that outdoor storage potential.”