Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
The response to this year’s Syracuse-Wawasee Chamber Award banquet held Thursday, May 21 at the Owl’s Nest in North Webster was “overwhelming,” according to Executive Director Brent Randall.
“We’ve had a great turnout!” he said.
Several businesses and individuals were recognized at the annual banquet and those in attendance heard updates about projects happening in town.
Randall welcomed everyone and shared that the chamber has grown to 211 members. He said he told the board when he started 15 months ago that he planned to use the “Kevin Costner method - build the best chamber and they will come.”
Carla Fawley, of Dynamic Floral, gave the invocation before dinner.
Award Winners
At the end of the evening the following received awards for 2025, voted on by chamber members.
Volunteer of the Year is Jennifer Wilkinson, of Wawasee Kiwanis, sponsored by Crossroads Bank; Educator of the Year, Tony Pawlicki, Wawasee High School Director of Bands, sponsored by The Papers; Ambassador of the Year, Angela Robbins, Ruoff Mortgage, sponsored by Kosciusko County Community Foundation; Nonprofit Organization of the Year, Women of Today, Brooke Stahly, sponsored by the K-21 Foundation; Small Business of the Year, Polka Dot Tail, Marlene Shively, sponsored by Lakeland Animal Clinic; Large Business of the Year, Aluminum Insights, Jeff Miller & Niles Graber Alvarez, sponsored by Horizon Bank; and New Business of the Year, Lakeside Coffee, Katelyn Smith, sponsored by Interra Credit Union.
Program
Instead of one keynote speaker for the program, Randall chose to interview five individuals who have projects ongoing in Syracuse this year.
First was Jeff Dyson, managing partner of South Shore Social. They’re developing a housing development on the former South Shore Golf Course property. Dyson said they’re developing 50 acres into mixed-use housing and they plan to break ground in November.
They’re working with Collins Equity Group from Plymouth, who have done several mixed-use developments. There will be apartments/condominiums, single story flats and single-story homes for sale and for rent. The price point will be between $300,000-$365,000.
“So, they’re targeting the top one-third of income earners and because of the price point they’ll typically sell in 18-24 months.”
He said Collins Equity Group builds, maintains and manages the properties so there will be HOA fees. Randall asked Dyson how the dream started.
Dyson said a little more than five years ago he and his partner were fortunate enough to sell their businesses, so they were able to buy the property.
“Our initial goal was we wanted to do something great for our community. We heard someone was going to buy the property and do who knows what, so we knew we needed housing,” he said.
Dyson said they initially had a developer, but his health declined, but now they are ready to go. The initial phase will take about 18 months, and the development will be completely built in three-five years.
“Once it’s fully built out, there could be 1,000 people living on the property, which is 30% of Syracuse’s population in the winter,” he said.
Randall asked about the rest of the property and Dyson reiterated they’re developing 50 acres into housing, Lakeland Youth Center is developing 20 acres into soccer fields and there will be an additional 40-50 acres available.
Executive Director of the Turkey Creek Township-Syracuse Public Library Jon Gaskill spoke about the new library’s construction timeline. He said they plan to go out for bond in October and then there’ll be 60 days to choose a contractor so by late 2026, early 2027 they plan to break ground before the deep freeze so they can get concrete and metal in the ground and build during the winter of 2027. He said he’s hopeful by the end of 2027-early 2028 the library will be completed.
Randall kept pointing out how each of these projects affect economic development in a positive way and Gaskill spoke of how libraries help small businesses and he shared they recently received a $25,000 grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York through the Association of Small and Rural Public Libraries for technology training.
Gaskill said he was “the new guy” as he took over when Kim Blaha retired several months ago. Randall asked about what would happen with the Carnegie Library building and Gaskill responded, “It’s not going away, it’s available for anyone to purchase, it’s a beautiful building, well-maintained with lots of possibilities and we hope someone will purchase it and love it for the next 100 years.”
Ryan Troyer, managing partner of Urban Oaks Apartments, talked about the expansion of Urban Oaks.
Randall said, “Urban Oaks is a real success story.”
Troyer said they like to take old things and make them new and he reminisced about the renovation of the former Syracuse Elementary School into apartments.
“The building is now flourishing. Within six months we went from zero to 63 apartments and we’re fully occupied,” he said.
In July, they plan to break ground on phase one — a new build of 11 new apartments. Phase two will be another 25-30 apartments in the big parking lot, if the need is still there so the target date for phase two is spring 2028.
Ryan and his wife and two daughters live on site and he said, “We have amazing businesses here, so you want to be able to live where you work. We have great coffee shops, great restaurants, Syracuse is a town where people can flourish.”
Randall introduced the next guest by saying, “After a long and storied career making people feel better, Dr. Larry Allen is now manager of Rabbit Ridge Senior Living.”
Allen said he named it Rabbit Ridge because he heard that the previous owners used to hunt rabbits in the woods there. He said phase one will include 17 units. They’ve built five and those are occupied and another five have been sold so by the end of 2026 all 17 should be completed.
He said, “Like Urban Oaks they’re getting occupied right away.”
Phase two will be started in 2027 and will be another 20 units, then amenities will be added. He’s planning a clubhouse, gardening area and pickleball court.
Allen said Rabbit Ridge is an independent senior living community, it’s not assisted living, it’s enhanced living so people can age in place and have the services brought to them, whether that’s nursing, physical therapy or meals.
Randall asked why he wanted to do this at this point in his life and career. Allen responded, “For so many years my patients, when they got to the point where they wanted to downsize, they’d go to Goshen or to Warsaw because there wasn’t any place for them here.”
He said he had the property for years and didn’t develop it so he decided to do it so people could stay in the community when they got to that place.
Lastly, Emily Maggart, development director of Wawasee Area Conservancy Foundation (WACF), spoke about the guided kayak tours planned for this summer. She said at the Between the Lakes property the K21 Health Foundation gave them a grant to put in a canoe and kayak rental kiosk so more people can get out on the lake if they don’t own a boat of their own. She said people can rent a canoe or kayak for $25 for two hours “so everyone can get out on the water.”
The guided kayak tours will show the wetlands and the history of the area 250 years ago in honor of America’s 250th anniversary. She said they’ve also started a new campaign, “Forever Wawasee Watershed,” in honor of the 250th celebration, which started Memorial Day and goes through Labor Day. They will highlight donations in amounts of $250, $2,500 and $25,000 and those donors will receive a gift.
Maggart said WACF is not just about conservation, she said it’s also “an insurance policy for businesses. Our town doubles and triples over the summer” because of the lake and water assets.
