‘We have to go tell our story’
Billions in local economic development wins lauded at economic session
SOUTH BEND — Indiana Secretary of Commerce David Rosenberg ended a presentation on the state of the economy by urging the sellout crowd of 215 to start crowing about the growth and the other good things they see going on here and across the state.
Rosenberg, who also heads up the Indiana Economic Development Corp., was joined in a panel discussion by South Bend Mayor James Mueller and Ken Prince, Mishawaka’s executive director of planning and community development, on Wednesday morning at Morris Park Country Club.
The annual State of the Economy breakfast was emceed by Jeff Rea, president and CEO of the South Bend Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Rosenberg said the investments coming to communities throughout the region and across the state are unprecedented, and he pointed out that even higher interest rates won’t impact massive projects such as the $3.5 billion GM/Samsung SDI plant that’s underway between South Bend and New Carlisle.
Indiana is leaning heavily into economies of the future, having received federal hub designations for tech, hydrogen and microelectronics, which ultimately should help attract additional investment into the state.
“This region should be very proud of what you’re doing,” Rosenberg said, pointing out that all levels of local government are working together to ensure the future growth of the region. “If I could change anything about the state, it would be our humbleness,” he said.
“We have to begin to shake that,” he said. “We have to go tell our story, because it’s so important to attracting those economies of the future and bringing that talent here.”
Indiana has managed to attract $33 billion in investment in the past six quarters, Rosenberg said, pointing out that it previously would have taken six years to reach such totals and that investment is occurring throughout the state.
And yet, Indiana has become more deliberate than it has in the past, specifically focusing most of its efforts on projects it sees as providing high-paying jobs and careers for Hoosiers for generations to come.
The GM/Samsung plant here is now among four such plants that are planned or under construction across the state and there’s a possibility for a fifth such factory in the near future. “Eighteen months ago, we had zero EV battery factories,” Rosenberg said.
In that same period of time, the state has gone from having no semiconductor facilities to seven with efforts focused on growing that number, Rosenberg said. “The great thing about these new industries is that they bring their entire supply chain with them so that continues to add to the economy of those high-wage careers.”
Besides focusing on businesses providing future-leaning opportunities, Rosenberg also credited the Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative or READI program with spurring quality of life and quality of place improvements that aim to make the entire state more attractive as a place to live and work.
“That $1 billion in investment by the state is expected to leverage nearly $20 billion in other public, private and philanthropic investment in these cities and towns,” he said.
Mueller explained how READI and its predecessor program — Regional Cities — helped incentivize the development of Howard Park in downtown South Bend and how that project helped catalyze additional investment in housing, retail and restaurants in the East Bank neighborhood.
Similarly, READI money will be used to help spur the development of additional projects totaling about $1 billion in private investment over the next several years from Memorial Hospital on the north end of downtown to Four Winds Field at Coveleski Stadium and the remaining Studebaker complex to the south, among other spots.
And yet, Mueller also envisions development coming to the west side of South Bend and beyond because of the Indiana Dinosaur Museum entertainment complex under construction at the U.S. 31 Bypass and U.S. 20 interchange as well as the battery plant and other projects on the west side of the county.
Tight for the large swaths of land needed for industrial development, Mishawaka has focused its efforts on being a community where people want to live by focusing on parks, recreational opportunities and housing along the river.
“We’re concentrating on that residential growth and that quality of life,” Prince said. “We just don’t have the land for that, so we concentrate on what we’re good at.”
Prince pointed out that a parking garage at the Mill at Ironworks Plaza wouldn’t have been feasible without the additional development dollars from the state. Eighty percent of those residents are from outside Mishawaka, many are from outside the state and some are choosing to settle in the area.
With the battery plant coming to the New Carlisle area and a massive Amazon facility still to open in Elkhart along the Indiana Toll Road, Prince sees Mishawaka becoming more of the housing, retail and restaurant provider for the region.
But even still, the $38 million Mishawaka Fieldhouse project that is under construction along Veterans Parkway promises to have a significant economic impact of its own by helping attract a wide variety of traveling youth sports teams here for tournaments.
“It’s another diversification of the area economy,” Prince said, pointing out that the facility is expected to eventually generate 20,000 additional room nights for area hotels.
The athletic complex, which is expected to open at the end of next year, could create an estimated economic impact of $34 million a year, according to estimates previously provided by Visit South Bend/Mishawaka.