By Dan Spalding
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — Grossnickle Eye Center is focusing on future plans for a presence on CR 200N and US 30, but don’t look for any changes in the near future.

The optometry company secured a use variance Monday night, Oct. 25, from the Warsaw Board of Zoning Appeals for a tract of land along CR 200N southeast of the Zimmer Biomet facility along US 30.

Grossnickle has four locations in north central Indiana, including one on Dubois Drive in Warsaw.

The 11-acre tract is zoned as Industrial 2 and includes a cornfield and wetlands. About five acres of it could be developed, said attorney Steve Snyder, representing Grossnickle.

Plans submitted to the city say the new locations could employ about 100 people and they expect to have 200 customers per day.

Snyder said it could be years before something happens.

“There’s no hurry for Grossnickle Eye Center to build a building and relocate,” Snyder said.

Snyder made a point in saying the owners have no immediate plans and then succeeded in lobbying to extend the amount of time the variance remains in place from six months to five years.

The vote by the BZA was unanimous.

The eye care business began in 1957. In 1987, the Grossnickle Eye Center built an onsite surgery center, one of the first of its kind. By 1998, the practice had grown to include a new office in Mishawaka and Plymouth. A third location, in Elkhart, was added in 2011, according to the company website.