Warsaw Tech Park Hopes To Attract High Tech Industry
By Tim Ashley
InkFreeNews
WARSAW — When the idea was first conceived to have a Warsaw Tech Park the intent was to “attract high tech industry,” said Jeremy Skinner, community and economic development director for the City of Warsaw.
Slowly but surely industry is being attracted and current tenants include Banner Medical, Ivy Tech, GreenMark, Nextremity Solutions, Patrick Industries and Cross PVD. The park covers about 160 acres near the intersection of US 30 and Silveus Crossing, more specifically along the north side of US 30 and all along Polk Drive.
Skinner noted the park began in 2012 and that is the year the state process started to get certified as a tech park between Silveus Crossing and CR 200W. In addition to attracting high tech industry, the goal is to “diversify industries” which will include some orthopedics related companies.
“We just can’t say no to orthopedics because there is too much of it here already,” he commented, adding “trying to diversify industries is always a challenge.”
Helping to attract industry is the availability of “shovel ready ground” and access to fiber optics for high speed telecommunications, the speed of which typically exceeds even the fastest residential connection speeds. The infrastructure is in place and tax abatements are offered.
“Communication is huge in today’s world,” Skinner noted.
Another attraction is the shell buildings in the park which Skinner described as “an economic driver.” The first building was started in 2015-16 and is now occupied by Patrick Industries and the second began in late 2018. It was occupied by Nextremity Solutions last year and finished about two months ago.
“We will look at another (shell) building once one is completed,” he said. He anticipates the beginning of a third shell building within the next year and a half.
“It takes time to develop because we are not sure of the market,” he noted. The next building might have multiple tenant spaces or it could be occupied by a single tenant.
Engineering improvements are being done to CR 300N and Skinner said he anticipates an announcement within about six months for a new tenant in the park.
Another “selling point” is an advanced manufacturing training facility operated by Ivy Tech near the tech park. It is known as the Orthopedic and Advanced Manufacturing Training Center.
Manufacturing is simply not what it used to be. Technology has considerably changed the processes and facilities are often cleaner now. “You can almost eat off the floor in some of these places,” Skinner said.
He gave a few examples, such as a very technical green chroming process used by Cross PVD for UV coating and finishing. Patrick Industries has a more technical process used for fiberglass. And Nextremity creates new technology through research and development of products marketed to the orthopedic industry.
Last year was certainly challenging due to the COVID pandemic, but Skinner noted Nextremity moved in at the height of the pandemic. “Things are still moving,” he said. “We were slowed down some but not stopped.”
Receiving materials has been a problem due to the pandemic, he added.
Warsaw has one of about 20 tech parks in the entire state “and we are probably the youngest one and have a lot of increment to capture,” he said.
Skinner said the goal is to continue to expand the tech park to the west and a four-year priority is to create an innovation center where people can collaborate on starting up a business. He described the innovation center as “co-working space with shared resources.”
“There are a lot of pieces to put together for this,” he noted.
Exactly how many tenants there will be in the park once it is maxed out is unclear because it depends on the size of the buildings and how much space a business will require once they move in. “We have left it flexible,” he said.
Thus far there has been $50 million in capital investment, $34 million in total wages and 444 total employes in the tech park since 2015, he said.