Work on Lake City Bank’s Innovation & Technology Center, at the corner of Indiana and Center Streets, Warsaw, can be seen Monday night, Nov. 3. Photo by David Slone, Times-Union.

By David Slone
Times-Union

WARSAW – Since it was founded 153 years ago, Lake City Bank has continued to invest into downtown Warsaw, even while expanding out into other Indiana counties.

At the Warsaw Common Council meeting Monday night, Nov. 3, Lake City Bank Chairman and Chief Executive Officer David Findlay and Chief Financial Officer Lisa O’Neill gave an update on what LCB is doing in the city and with the Innovation & Technology Center.

Lake City Bank purchased the former CenturyLink building, built in 1968 at the intersection of Indiana and Center Streets, in 2024 to house the Innovation & Technology Center. Construction on the 35,600-square-foot office building started in September, with completion of the project expected by summer 2026.

“When you think about the history of Lake City Bank in Warsaw, Indiana, it’s a wonderful story,” Findlay said.

Lake City Bank was founded in 1872 in Warsaw with the same name. Today, it has 55 offices in 15 Indiana counties, having just opened its ninth office in the Indianapolis market earlier this summer. LCB is a $7 billion bank, employs over 700 people and is the sixth largest bank in the state, he stated.

Talking about the Innovation & Technology Center, O’Neill said, “We started planning for the building in January of 2025. At the time, we thought we would just remodel the three floors, but then quickly determined that we should incorporate the basement because we had use for a larger conference room where people could access the floor using the elevator.”

She said it will have capacity for 109 employees, but at the onset the building will not be fully occupied because they’ve allowed for growth.

“It seems like every time we remodel, we find ourselves in a situation where, ‘Oh, we need to remodel again’ because we need to add capacity for more space. So, right now, we planned for 109 spaces for employees,” O’Neill stated. “And, as you can tell, as you’ve been driving around downtown, you can see the work that’s being done on the exterior part of the building – the envelope as they call it – in preparation  for getting that finished before it gets really cold and then they can focus on the interior part of the building.”

She said they also were really excited to be able to keep the original brick of the building, which was from Ohio, as it was in a very good condition. All of the mechanical and HVAC system were pretty much original to the building from the 1960s, so there was nothing they could really save. A lot of interesting pieces were donated to developer David Gustafson for work he’s doing throughout the city, O’Neill stated. She said the work on the north side was finished, and they’re working on the Indiana Street side. More windows to allow more light into the building will be put where cinder blocks are now.

Lake City Bank Chairman and CEO David Findlay (standing) speaks to the Warsaw Common Council Monday night. Sitting next to him is Lisa O’Neill, Lake City Bank chief financial officer. Photo by David Slone, Times-Union.

“So that’s going to be sort of an interesting next phase of what’s going on, on in the exterior,” she continued. “Our architects also found that there was quite a bit of structural repair that was needed to support each of the floors, so that’s been sort of the first work that they’ve done.”

O’Neill then presented figures on how much money Lake City Bank has been putting into its Warsaw Downtown Campus. From 2010 to 2026, which includes the $12.6 million for the Innovation & Technology building purchase and renovation, the amount invested is $22,237,903.

After talking about the history of the buildings in downtown Warsaw, Findlay said, “You look at all these buildings and think the $22.2 million is a lot of money, but it’s a lot of history, and we’ve always tried to respect the history of the city of Warsaw when we’ve done these renovations, and that’s why when we proposed the Innovation & Technology Center, we knew there was going to be some street disruptions, some sidewalk disruptions. We understand that it could create some challenges for businesses downtown, and that’s why Lisa and the team have really accelerated as quickly as we could to get particularly Center Street open, which is on schedule to likely be finished within the next several weeks, so we can bring Center Street sidewalk and parking back in.”

The construction site will then be maintained on the Indiana Street (east) side of the building. With the renovation of the building, its value will increase and Lake City Bank will pay increased property taxes in the city. In 2024, LCB paid local property taxes of $238,985 in Warsaw; and $140,591 in Kosciusko County taxes. Bank wide, in Kosciusko County alone, primarily through United Way, the bank donated $148,604 in 2024. Bank employees gave 1,175 volunteer hours in Kosciusko County at 37 nonprofit organizations in 2024.

“We are dedicated to this community, financially and with community service,” Findlay said.

Lake City Bank has over 700 employees, and, on average, each employee comes through Warsaw for training four times a year.

“They’re in town for training. They’re in town for Lake City University development where we not only teach job skills, but also life skills,” Findlay said.

“They all come to town. … But they come from all bank locations, and they eat lunch and stay here. We love bringing people here because we want people to understand the culture of Lake City Bank, not predicated upon what it is in Indianapolis or Fort Wayne or Auburn or Mishawaka. We want them to understand what the culture of the bank is here, where the bank has been for 153 years,” he said.

Councilwoman Cindy Dobbins, who owns a downtown Warsaw business, said she could substantiate Lake City Banks do shop and spend money in the downtown. She also said Warsaw Community Development Corp. and Main Street Warsaw have had great board members from LCB over the last 25 years, and LCB steps up to help whenever they have had a big project.

Council President Jack Wilhite thanked LCB for being a good partner with the city.

“If businesses don’t step up and take on buildings like this, the buildings just decay. I just want to express to you my thanks for what you do and for being a good partner,” Wilhite stated.