What is Project Future? - Business Development
Project Future Business Development in 2002
The $7 million Environmental Health Laboratories/Underwriters
Laboratories Inc. (EHL/UL) 52,000-square-foot addition was
completed in October 2002. Tripling the size of their building at
110 South Hill Street in South Bend, which currently employs 107 people.
EHL and UL anticipate adding 150 new employees to their drinking-water
testing facility in the next few years.
Started in spring of 2002, The Crowe Chizek and Co.
accounting firm began construction of a new 50,000-square-foot building
at 320 East Jefferson Boulevard in downtown South Bend. The $10.8
million open-floor concept project makes room for the existing 360
employees, as well as, up to 150 new employees Crowe Chizek plans
to hire in the next five years.
Tech Data Corporation, a long time resident of our
community, determined that they wanted to make Blackthorn West Business
Park a permanent home for their Midwest distribution center. The new
30-acre site allows for construction of a 325,000-square-foot facility
– expandable to 5000,000-square-feet. The project, expected
to reach $16 million, is scheduled for completion by the middle of
2003. The Clearwater, Florida based company, ranked 116 in the Fortune
500 2002 listing, and currently employs 130 people in two leased South
Bend locations.
An inner city "brownfield" site was selected by The TJX
Companies to construct a $41 million distribution center
that will be used to supply goods to A.J. Wright off-price retail
stores throughout the Midwest. The company expects to employ more
than 800 workers by 2007 when the project is complete. The largest
new brownfield site development in North Central Indiana's history
will encompass approximately 80 acres at the intersection of Olive
and Sample Streets. Project Future, while working closely with the
City of South Bend, South Bend City Council, South Bend Redevelopment
Commission, St. Joseph County Commissioners, South Bend Community
School Corporation, AEP, NIPSCO, Urban Enterprise Association, the
State of Indiana and individual property owners, acted as the primary
catalyst by providing direction and guidance to ensure the project's
completion.
In May of 2002 groundbreaking took place at the future site of the
Allegheny Energy plant. The company plans to build
a 540-megawatt gas-fired generating plant in New Carlisle. The plant
will occupy about a 50-acre parcel on the corner of Walnut and Early
Roads in New Carlisle. In November, construction was temporarily halted
on the facility due to downturn in the energy market. Allegheny has
stated that either they or a future site successor will complete the
project.
The AM General Hummer H2 plant dedication took place
on May 17th, 2002. At that time, the facility already had 650 new
hires at work, with about 300 more coming on board by the end of 2002.
The expansion included a new $1.75 million, 17,700-square-foot building,
and a $900,000 distribution and warehousing area remolding on the
Byrkit Avenue site in Mishawaka. Both improvements came in response
to the increased service-parts business for the H1 and the manufacturing
of the new H2 Hummer vehicles.
Project Future continues to work closely with The Chamber of Commerce
of St. Joseph County and local governmental units to define a
Technology Development Strategy for the county. We currently
anticipate that a major broadband initiative will be announced in
the spring of 2003. It is expected that this initiative will provide
substantial, meaningful options to those businesses, government agencies
and institutions that require significant connectivity in their current
or proposed operations.
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