Land trust shares its leadership

Intending to clearly explain who they are and what they aim to do, leaders of Wayne County Land Trust offered an information session to announce more partners and describe long-range plans.

The land trust, which Wayne County Foundation formed in May 2025, is focused on acquiring, restoring and revitalizing several Richmond downtown and depot commercial buildings with private funds for mixed-use purposes such as housing and retail spaces.

The five-member board and four advisers hadn’t been publicly named until the May 7 breakfast designed for community stakeholders at Forest Hills Country Club.

Rebecca Gilliam, Wayne County Foundation’s executive director, said the board offers a mixture of expertise in investments, finance, customer relations, real estate and historic revitalization.

Board members are Brett Guiley (managing partner of Vista Investment Partners), Paul Witte (First Bank Richmond president/chief operating officer), Robin Henry (retired assistant vice president of 3Rivers Federal Credit Union), Jesse Merk (partner in Merk Investments) and David Jetmore (retired doctor who co-founded Richmond Neighborhood Restoration).

Advisory members are Matty Ledgerwood, offering construction expertise through Ledgerwood Home Restoration; Sharon Ontko, representing the voice of downtown business owners; Valerie Shaffer, Economic Development Corp. of Wayne County’s president; and David Stidham, retired banker who represents Economic Growth Group.

The land trust staff are Gilliam, Forward Wayne County’s program director Acacia St. John and property manager Addy Johnson.

They also noted a key partner in Trent Reichley, who was instrumental in acquiring the properties and believes in the project so much that he moved home to help.

So far, the trust has acquired about 300,000 square feet in commercial space, and at the event, Gilliam announced they’re working with two regional firms showing success on similar projects.

Gilliam said Cincinnati-based Platte Architecture + Design offers expertise in historic mixed-use space renovations and federal/state tax credits in areas such as Van Wert, Ohio, and Over the Rhine in Cincinnati. The land trust also is working with Indianapolis-based DELV Design that was part of the Sun King at Union Square project.

Roger Richert said he’d said no to selling his family’s Richmond Furniture Gallery in the Depot District “100 times,” but with the current $100 million downtown Richmond renovations underway, he believed the time was right to sell that large building to the land trust earlier this year. He said an adaptive reuse is needed to preserve buildings like the furniture store.

“The foundation has the plan, the resources and the ability to take the district to the next level and we want to be part of it,” Richert said.

WCF has provided a loan for acquisition and overhead expenses, but additional support could come through the new Wayne County Investment Fund created in partnership with the Sagamore Institute that will be available for private investors who wish to participate.

Gilliam said the land trust faces existing challenges in improving commercial properties. Large-scale community development requires strategic partnerships and multiple funding sources; rural communities are often overlooked for significant state investment; and private development firms see little return on investment in rural markets.

The impetus for the land trust is linked back to the 2019 formation of Forward Wayne County, a backbone organization that Wayne County Foundation began to catalyze community change to achieve five goals – increasing population, educational attainment, personal income and home values and reducing poverty. Its leaders believe improving downtowns will improve quality of life, attract new residents and engage current residents.

That led to a 2023 downtown structure feasibility study that gave an accurate picture of the scale of investment needed to improve aging buildings. They wanted to be ready when the right funding opportunities came, Gilliam said, and those have arrived through several sources including Lilly Endowment, Indiana state government and private investment.

Next steps will include breaking the projects into phases, offering community engagement sessions to discuss potential reuses for the buildings and finding more funding.

For more information, visit forwardwaynecounty.org/wayne-county-land-trust/.

The land trust is separate from a new program that’s similarly named. Wayne County Land Bank is overseen by Economic Development Corp. of Wayne County in partnership with the Indianapolis-based Intend Indiana organization. The land bank is working to acquire, stabilize and secure blighted residential properties in hopes of increasing home ownership.