The former Gatke site in Warsaw will be demolished in late October. InkFreeNews photo by Brianna Pitts.

By Brianna Pitts
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — For 32 years, the Gatke building in Warsaw has been sitting empty.

Beginning in late October, Rebar Development is set to begin demolition on the Gatke property.

While the design will embrace the essence of the building in its former glory, the original will be torn down due to its dilapidated condition.

According to Rebar Development’s President and Partner Shelby Bowen, there will be two buildings and a courtyard placed in this location. One of which, referred to as the Gatke Lofts, will include 75 apartment units, consisting of one and two-bedroom apartments with amenities including a rooftop terrace, work-from-home lounge, café, conference room, bike storage and a fitness center. The second building, Gatke’s former warehouse, will be transformed into a commercial retail space with potential for a co-working space and possibly a restaurant.

Because of the time it will take to demolish the building and raise the new ones, this project is expected to be completed mid-2025.

“The community can look forward to this project providing another option for workforce housing in Warsaw. The city is actively trying to fill the need for housing made by significant growth in our community,” said Mayor Joe Thallemer.

Thomas L. Gatke established Gatke Corporation on East Winona Avenue in 1926. Photo taken from the City of Warsaw’s historical documents.

Background on The Gatke Building

According to the city of Warsaw’s historical documents, Thomas L. Gatke opened Gatke Corporation on East Winona Avenue in 1926. The factory manufactured asbestos friction products for over 60 years. These products were said to have contributed to the creation of the Empire State Building and the Golden Gate Building, and sending Apollo 11 to the moon.

Before the building was acquired by Gatke, it was a local interurban power plant. The Gatke building is estimated to be over 100 years old with a rich history. However, in 1991, The Gatke Corps. closed its doors and was labeled an environmental hazard due to the many years of manufacturing asbestos products. This made the property unattractive to many developers and it stayed on the market until 1999.

Warsaw’s Community and Economic Development Director Jeremy Skinner shared some background of the city’s involvement in this project.

“In 1999, the City of Warsaw acquired the Gatke building after it sat empty for eight years due to it being an environmental hazard from the asbestos,” said Skinner. “No one really had the funds to participate in the environmental clean-up work the building needed, so at that point, the city stepped in. Through a number of different grants we were able remove underground storage tanks and demolish some of the smaller buildings to clean up the area in the early 2000s. After receiving permission from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, the city was then allowed to look for developers to partner with.”

KEDCO’s Involvement

A heavily involved member of seeing this project come to fruition was the Kosciusko Economic Development Corporation, who searched for potential developers for this project.

KEDCO’s Chief Executive Officer Alan Tio spoke about how this project has been a long time coming.

“Because of all the behind-the-scenes work that had to come into play, you could compare the Gatke project to an iceberg because there is so much going on under the surface,” said Tio. “We needed the right developer at the right time with the right idea and all of it had to align with the city. This is really one of those place-making projects that will hopefully draw people and businesses to Kosciusko.”

Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer added, “There have been many developers present their pitches over the years for the Gatke project, but none of them were right for the town. They were either unsustainable or not practical long-term. When Rebar Development came to present their proposal, it was clear this was the one that would be transformational in that area. Their goals aligned with the city’s very well, connecting Warsaw to Winona Lake and revitalizing a tired industrial area. Hopefully this project will spur even more development in that area.”

According to Skinner, the project itself will cost an estimated $20 million, with the city contributing roughly $3.3 million partly through an issued bond and the rest in cash payments over the course of three years. Rebar has received about $4 million in tax credits from the state. Rebar will contribute the rest, totaling roughly $12 million to the project.

Moving Forward

With Warsaw being an industrial hub, how does one prevent a Gatke site situation from happening again?

Mayor Thallemer and Skinner explained how the Gatke site was problematic because of its environmental hazards. Due to the hazardous state, the remediation of this property took a lot of time, effort and resources from the city. Now, people and companies know better and are held to certain environmental regulations that did not exist in the early 1900s.

Skinner went on to say, “Because of the lack of environmental restrictions in the past, we are left with old, industrial sites that have a lot of issues in the present. I do not think we are creating any new issues, but the way we deal with those sites is to partner with a lot of different people to clean the sites up and repackage them for redevelopment and that is what the Warsaw Redevelopment Commission is committed to.”

A look inside the biggest building on the Gatke property. InkFreeNews file photo from 2019.