LA PORTE, Ind. — After being tied up in court, the door has opened to get moving again toward a much-anticipated intermodal facility in northern Indiana and the many jobs it’s expected to create, including some in agriculture.

Progress was held up for more than a year because of squabbling by the co-owners of the site, but one of them is now out of the picture, clearing the way to resume progress on a project already several years in the making. The Halfwassen Group is now the sole owner of the property in Kingsbury after half the site it previously owned 50-50 with Providence Logistics, LLC was ordered foreclosed upon in November by courts to settle a debt owed by the former development partner.

LaPorte County Attorney Shaw Friedman said the Halfwassen Group received a clean title to the entire property on Feb. 20. "Nothing could move until that got resolved," said Friedman.

The former owners of the site were also involved in the makeup of Green Express, the startup company that wanted to bring refrigerated train cars of produce and other farm products to and from Florida. Green Express is also gone, but other firms interested in doing the same thing have stepped up – and securing a deal with one of the prospects appears to be on the horizon, he said.

"Things are looking to move forward again, and we hope in quick fashion," added Friedman.

Halfwassen and Providence were deadlocked over matters that involved financing when the county last August threatened to foreclose on 200 of the 600-acre site. The county under an agreement negotiated with all parties involved in the project had authority to foreclose on various properties belonging to the landowners if there were any prolonged delays in starting the development.

The county put up $6 million used to extend rail to the grounds and demanded a mechanism to recover that money if the development – which also includes the state and CSX Railroad as financial partners – for any reason, fell through.

The rail extension would allow trains carrying produce to move in and out of the facility where perishable food products would be loaded and offloaded then housed in cold storage until ready for delivery to market by trucks or shipped by rail out to Florida.

Another intermodal facility in Florida, to store produce shipped from this region until it can be loaded onto barges for shipment to more distant markets, will be required for the development to materialize.

Friedman would not reveal if Halfwassen faces other deadlines to avoid foreclosure, but emphasized "we have relayed consistently the insistence of the county commissioners that this thing really start moving again now that the legal underbrush has been cleared.

"They understand what they’ve got to do," said Friedman, who added the sense of urgency is from a desire to provide jobs in a county with one of the highest unemployment rates in the state.

While the former landowners were fighting it out in court, the county has been trying to attract another company to replace Green Express as head of the proposed refrigerated railcar and cold storage operation. With help from a deep-pocketed investor, Friedman said a letter of commitment to the project should soon be forthcoming from the new, restructured group.

LaPorte County Commission President Dave Decker said having one landowner eliminates the friction between the previous landowners that kept new financial prospects from signing on to the project, and vowed to offer as much assistance as possible for the intermodal facility to finally happen.

"As far as we’re concerned it’s full steam ahead. We’re going to do everything we can to facilitate everything. Our county attorney, our economic development guy are right there. They’re brokering deals as we speak," said Decker.

The state farm community, including the Indiana Department of Agriculture, for years has kept its eye on the project because of the potential of trains running nonstop to carry additional Hoosier farm goods to other markets.

"It would be a welcome addition to the transportation infrastructure of the state of Indiana, at least as farmers are concerned," said Andy Dietrick, a spokesman with Indiana Farm Bureau out of Indianapolis. "Anytime you can put in place a pipeline, if you will, that’s going to move goods, especially perishable goods, to new markets that’s a good thing."