2nd Phase, 3rd Shell Building Mark New Chapters At Tech Park
November 6, 2018 at 7:08 p.m.
2nd Phase, 3rd Shell Building Mark New Chapters At Tech Park
By Dan [email protected]
The 220-acre industrial park is already home to six industrial facilities (including Medtronic), and motorists traveling along U.S. 30 can now see earth movers to the west of Silveus Crossing and a more signs of development if they peer further to the north far beyond the Ivy Tech campus.
West Hill Development, a partnership of two longtime area businesses, has been quietly working on the development since 2002. The city of Warsaw became more involved in 2012 when the development was designated as a tech park by the state and began planning to provide roads and infrastructure.
[[In-content Ad]]
Alan Tio, chief executive officer of Kosciusko Economic Development Corp., calls the ongoing development “a well-kept secret.”
“We’re really not that good at marketing,” said Dan Robinson, president of Robinson Construction, with a laugh Monday at Ivy Tech campus, which sits along side the tech park.
Robinson was joined by his West Hill Development partner, Cary Groninger, of G&G Hauling and Excavating, for a media event Monday with numerous public officials to announce a second phase of development and a third shell building officials hope could be filled by another company next year.
The shell building will be a state-of-the-art 52,000-square-feet building with 4,000 square feet of office space that can be expanded to include more office space if two companies choose to share the property.
The property is on the northeast corner of Silveus Crossing and Polk Drive, just east of Banner Medical, an orthopedic-related company that took occupation of another shell building two years ago.
Phase one of the park was completed in 2015. Other occupants include Patrick Industries, Frontline Manufacturing, Premier Concepts and Winona PVD Coatings.
Shell buildings are designed to allow future tenants to finish interior construction to suit their needs.
Development and marketing of shell buildings represents a “generational change” compared to 20 years ago when municipalities would seek to entice industry by extending sewer and construct roads with hopes they would fuel interest from the private sector, Tio said.
Companies these days want to move more quickly on business opportunities.
“The more you can help expedite the development by having shovel-ready sites, by having a spec building, you’re shaving off three, six, nine months on a build-out timeline,” he said.
If companies choose not to use a shell building, they are also have a chance to consider other industrial lots in the park.
Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer and others celebrated the growing partnership between West Hill Development, the city and Ivy Tech, which specializes in advanced manufacturing workforce training.
The city is also reconstructing CR 300N to the north for better access to the park.
Thallemer said the use of tax increment financing to pay for infrastructure improvement have paved the way for much of the development, and he credited city planner Jeremy Skinner for his leadership in overseeing and developing the TIF districts.
TIF funding “allows us to stay ahead of the curve, to put the roads in, put the infrastructure in, and have a shell building,” Thallemer said.
“We could not have done any of this without that TIF increment,” he said.
Robinson and Groninger are two well-known leaders in the community. Robinson is a former Warsaw Community School board member and has sat on city boards. Groninger is a Kosciusko County commissioner.
Robinson said he and Groninger took the plunge into industrial development in the late 1990s because they felt strongly that not enough was being done to spur industrial development, noting that at the time, there was a lack of property for existing industry to grow.
The decision to start buying property jointly was like jumping off a cliff, he said.
“We very much want to see more growth. We didn’t want to see this community die. We had multiple reasons. We did it for the community and we did it for selfish reasons,” Robinson said.
The tech park designation through the Indiana Economic Development Corp. allows the city to collect up to $5 million in sales and employee taxes, much like a TIF district, Skinner said.
The certified tech park is one of 24 in the state and one of two in northeast Indiana, with the other being the Northeast Indiana Innovation Center near Purdue Fort Wayne on Coliseum Boulevard in Fort Wayne.
“We’re still well ahead of many other areas in terms of partnership that’s coming together and in terms of investment in public and the private side,” Tio said.
The 220-acre industrial park is already home to six industrial facilities (including Medtronic), and motorists traveling along U.S. 30 can now see earth movers to the west of Silveus Crossing and a more signs of development if they peer further to the north far beyond the Ivy Tech campus.
West Hill Development, a partnership of two longtime area businesses, has been quietly working on the development since 2002. The city of Warsaw became more involved in 2012 when the development was designated as a tech park by the state and began planning to provide roads and infrastructure.
[[In-content Ad]]
Alan Tio, chief executive officer of Kosciusko Economic Development Corp., calls the ongoing development “a well-kept secret.”
“We’re really not that good at marketing,” said Dan Robinson, president of Robinson Construction, with a laugh Monday at Ivy Tech campus, which sits along side the tech park.
Robinson was joined by his West Hill Development partner, Cary Groninger, of G&G Hauling and Excavating, for a media event Monday with numerous public officials to announce a second phase of development and a third shell building officials hope could be filled by another company next year.
The shell building will be a state-of-the-art 52,000-square-feet building with 4,000 square feet of office space that can be expanded to include more office space if two companies choose to share the property.
The property is on the northeast corner of Silveus Crossing and Polk Drive, just east of Banner Medical, an orthopedic-related company that took occupation of another shell building two years ago.
Phase one of the park was completed in 2015. Other occupants include Patrick Industries, Frontline Manufacturing, Premier Concepts and Winona PVD Coatings.
Shell buildings are designed to allow future tenants to finish interior construction to suit their needs.
Development and marketing of shell buildings represents a “generational change” compared to 20 years ago when municipalities would seek to entice industry by extending sewer and construct roads with hopes they would fuel interest from the private sector, Tio said.
Companies these days want to move more quickly on business opportunities.
“The more you can help expedite the development by having shovel-ready sites, by having a spec building, you’re shaving off three, six, nine months on a build-out timeline,” he said.
If companies choose not to use a shell building, they are also have a chance to consider other industrial lots in the park.
Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer and others celebrated the growing partnership between West Hill Development, the city and Ivy Tech, which specializes in advanced manufacturing workforce training.
The city is also reconstructing CR 300N to the north for better access to the park.
Thallemer said the use of tax increment financing to pay for infrastructure improvement have paved the way for much of the development, and he credited city planner Jeremy Skinner for his leadership in overseeing and developing the TIF districts.
TIF funding “allows us to stay ahead of the curve, to put the roads in, put the infrastructure in, and have a shell building,” Thallemer said.
“We could not have done any of this without that TIF increment,” he said.
Robinson and Groninger are two well-known leaders in the community. Robinson is a former Warsaw Community School board member and has sat on city boards. Groninger is a Kosciusko County commissioner.
Robinson said he and Groninger took the plunge into industrial development in the late 1990s because they felt strongly that not enough was being done to spur industrial development, noting that at the time, there was a lack of property for existing industry to grow.
The decision to start buying property jointly was like jumping off a cliff, he said.
“We very much want to see more growth. We didn’t want to see this community die. We had multiple reasons. We did it for the community and we did it for selfish reasons,” Robinson said.
The tech park designation through the Indiana Economic Development Corp. allows the city to collect up to $5 million in sales and employee taxes, much like a TIF district, Skinner said.
The certified tech park is one of 24 in the state and one of two in northeast Indiana, with the other being the Northeast Indiana Innovation Center near Purdue Fort Wayne on Coliseum Boulevard in Fort Wayne.
“We’re still well ahead of many other areas in terms of partnership that’s coming together and in terms of investment in public and the private side,” Tio said.
Have a news tip? Email [email protected] or Call/Text 360-922-3092