Big investment building at WestGate
ODON— Westgate is on the edge of a wave that could result in billions of dollars in investment.
The techpark, located in Daviess, Martin and Greene counties, has seen a flow of growth that includes construction in all three counties.
Uplands Science and Technology Foundation is the center point for much of that development and recently hosted government leaders and local economic development heads to discuss what it happening.
'We are trying to make sure our local public officials are aware of the many projects that are underway at WestGate,' said USTF Executive Director Bryant Niehoff. 'It's a tri-county park. We want to make sure that those community leaders across county lines have an understanding on the projects taking part in the tech park as a whole.'
Niehoff says that there is both ongoing and projected projects in all three counties right now that totals more than $500 million in investment.
'At Westgate, we have NHanced Semiconductors which is under construction and wrapping up. There's EC2 in Martin County that is a remodel of the old SIAC building. You have the Kratos facility and RCE, and CACI that will be starting this year,' he said. 'That's over $150 million in investment at WestGate. That doesn't include the munitions campus that is more than $350 million.'
The munitions campus is tied to Crane, but not in the tech park.
Officials say that when they add up all of the projects, plus those that are working through the proposal phase the investment potential climbs even higher.
'We are tracking more than $3.1 billion in projects at and around WestGate. It's unbelievable,' said Niehoff.
With those additional facilities will come jobs. Most will require technical expertise, but many are expected to pay at least $80,000 per year before benefits.
'The projects we are actively tracking at WestGate will bring 1,500 jobs over the next six to seven years. Plus, what you are seeing at the munition's campus,' said Niehoff. 'That is a lot of jobs for our area. Where we are going to find the people, we are working on that. Workforce is at the top of every county's agenda. We have Ivy Tech, Purdue and IU working on it along with Regional Opportunities Initiative (ROI) and Radius and their defense incentive program. There is no silver bullet. It is going to take the efforts of all of the communities that border on Crane to improve housing and quality of place opportunities to attract good people.'
The WestGate tech park is unique. It is the only one in the country that sits in three separate counties.
Niehoff calls it a unique approach to development, and one that requires extra attention to work properly.
'We are conducting an experiment in regionalism and it is one of the most successful in the state and perhaps in the nation. We have brought these three rural counties together and now they compete for some of the best and most technological investments that are being made to assist the Navy in their mission,' said Niehoff. 'With so much going on and so much at stake communication between those leaders in the various counties is essential to making this experiment in regionalism work. We cannot leave anyone out of the loop, because when that happens the coalition is weakened.'
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