An auction scheduled for March 30 may determine the future of a possible rail yard and multimodal facility project in the vicinity of Wittmann, Arizona.
Some 3,500 acres of Arizona State Trust Land will be up for bid in an area to the north of U.S. Route 60. Reports have indicated that the BNSF Railway Company is interested in that land for what would be, by any measure, a massive rail facility project.
The land is currently mostly vacant, with a corral area located on the eastern side of the site that includes a water well and cistern
BNSF had previously expressed interest in building a similar-sized project more than a decade ago, only to see plans for that project go to the wayside due to the economics of the Great Recession.
Now the March 30 auction, if indeed BNSF puts in the successful bid, may restart the project.
That project could see the building of what would become a logistics park along the northern portion of the land in question, with a substantial logistics center and intermodal facility built in the middle and southern sections of the site.
Additional work at the site would most likely include the construction of one or several warehouses.
A minimum bid is set at $49.1 million. Should BNSF secure the land at auction, it will still be required to request an annexation and rezoning of the land in question to get the project underway.
By Garry Boulard
