So Long Wishing Well Motel; Welcome To Greendale Lischkge Motors

By Mike Perleberg The Wishing Well Motel in Greendale was recently demolished to make way for a new location for a longtime Dearborn County business. Photo by Google Street View. (Greendale, Ind.) - A Greendale motel that was once a frequent destination for police calls and arrests has been razed to make way for some positive economic development. The Wishing Well Motel on U.S. 50 met the wrecking ball earlier this month. Greendale Redevelopment Commission executive director Al Abdon says that the blighted site was purchased in December by Lischkge Motors. "It helps us clean up the area. Our goal is to clean-up and new-up as much of U.S. 50 and the entrance into southeastern Indiana as we can. That's been our stated goal for years," Abdon tells Eagle Country 99.3. The owners of Lischkge Motors say they plan to relocate their Mack truck sales and service business from the round barn in Aurora to a new, more spacious facility in Greendale. Lori Lischkge, who co-owns the business her grandfather started, says the new facility will host 18 existing jobs and as many as six new jobs. "Greendale has been very good to work with. The location near the interstate is key for our customers," she said, adding that the prospective establishment of a port on the Ohio River in Lawrenceburg also influenced their decision to move to Greendale. Lischkge Motors has been operating in Dearborn County since 1924 at a building known to locals as "The Round Barn" on U.S. 50 in Aurora. A Mack dealership since 1938, they are one of the big rig manufacturer's oldest distributors in the world. The family-owned business hopes to start construction in 2018. They are targeting a 2019 opening in Greendale. Even after the move, Lischkge says "The Round Barn" will remain part of the business' operation. Abdon said the Greendale Redevelopment Commission has approved assistance to Lischkge Motors in the form of $560,000 for new infrastructure and utility relocation. In exchange, the City of Greendale will obtain a 60-foot-wide right-of-way. The right-of-way, Abdon said, will become part of a planned connector road stretching from Rudolph Way to near the U.S. 50/State Road 1/Interstate 275 intersection. The new road is part of the city's master plan.