Two years after Boonville, Indiana, Mayor Charlie Wyatt’s pre-election announcement of a commercial project that would bring substantial employment and visitor traffic, no dirt has moved, and developers have said little about where the endeavor stands.
Initially presented on November 3, 2023, by Wyatt as a $74 million project that would begin construction in the third quarter of 2024, the estimated cost of EDGE of the Lakes has since soared to $250 million, with no known timeline for construction.
The development on Boonville’s off Indiana 62, near Walmart, to have a hotel, restaurants, and entertainment options such as an elaborate miniature golf experience. But firmer details have been hard to come by, and companies steering the project have seemed to come and go.
A March 5, 2025, news release on the EDGE of the Lakes website marked the first new information in nearly a year. The release listed multiple entities that were not previously involved and have no known ties to Southern Indiana. Those new names included M&Y Developers of New York, project manager Barry Eisdorfer, and LCS Capital of New Jersey.
Others were Carubba Engineering Inc., based in Louisiana, and Ken Brown of Muntz Evaluation Services LLC, who will “assist in procuring key entities to participate in the development of the EDGE,” the release stated. Brown’s LinkedIn page shows he lives in Mississippi and says he is “mostly self-employed with a great deal of time spent outside the USA working with lobbyist(s) and rogue nations.”
The golf attraction at EDGE of the Lakes is to be built by Hazards Entertainment LCC, whose CEO is Zach Miller, a Florida resident. The March 5 news release listed one participating local entity — Traylor Building, which is part of Traylor Construction Group of Evansville. Traylor Building representatives could not be reached for comment last week; the company had previously told Evansville Business that it is prepared to partner with the project if it gets off the ground.
The EDGE of the Lakes website and Facebook page have been silent since the March 5 release was dropped. Phone messages and emails sent by Evansville Business to the project’s contact portals have not been returned.
Wyatt was re-elected as Boonville mayor in 2023 four days after unveiling the EDGE of the Lakes project. He has since refused questions about it, citing a non-disclosure agreement with private entities. Local government is involved, however: In April 2024, the City of Boonville created a tax-increment financing district at the project site, which means it is to finance preconstruction activities such as road and utility infrastructure and then retire the debt through bond proceeds. That work has not started, and the project site sits empty.
The March 5 news release, while providing no construction schedule, stated that the EDGE of the Lakes development will employ 1,000 construction workers and, once completed, bring “over 800 direct and indirect jobs for the Tri-State area.”
It went on to say that the project “is estimated to cost well over $250 million once completed with funding sources that include grants, private equity, and financial institutions … we are not looking for investors, as we have funding sources already subject to specific terms and conditions.”
The Evansville Regional Economic Partnership, which has a mission to advance economic development in Warrick, Vanderburgh, Posey, and Gibson counties, has been in the dark regarding EDGE of the Lakes since Wyatt’s first mention of it.
“Like the rest of the region, we excitedly await further announcements on the EDGE, but at this point, we are unaware of any start dates or tenants,” says Joshua Armstrong, chief economic development officer with E-REP.
