The Michigan City Area Schools (MCAS) school board recently announced the repurposing of the former Elston High School into the new “Elston Opportunity Hub.” This transformation is the result of a partnership between the MCAS school board and NWI Works, which aims to make effective use of the previously underutilized 320,000-square-foot facility. The City of Michigan City has supported and partially funded the startup phases of this development.  

The Urban Renaissance Network (TURN) principals have specialized in the development and implementation of growth projects with progressive community leaders. We have collectively planned and implemented community development projects with a broad range of private and public leaders from most business and government sectors. We identify and integrate the vision, collaboration, work planning, and funding required to see projects through to execution.

In 2017, the City of Elkhart adopted the River District Revitalization Master Plan. Developed with broad community stakeholder involvement, the plan was built on the previous decades of investment in Elkhart’s struggling Main Street. This effort shared a vision for the River District to be an expansion of downtown, as a walkable, mixed-use neighborhood redeveloped on 100-plus acres of parking lots, out lot retailers, former industrial sites, and auto-repair shops. Over 65% of the $300-plus million mixed-use development has been realized within five-years. The area continues to attract significant new private investment.

Wellfield Botanic Gardens will hold the grand opening for its new 12,000-square-foot visitors center and a permanent outdoor pavilion on April 5, 2025. The $17 million expansion project includes a new garden, too. The visitors center will feature an art lounge, a small cafe, a gift shop, more bathrooms, and more event space. About 20,000 visitors tramped through the rotunda during the garden’s big holiday lights, in the dark of night, late in 2024.  

NWI Works in Northwest Indiana is critical to workforce development because of its local focus, training programs, job placement services, support for diverse populations, economic impact, and partnerships with key stakeholders. By investing in NWI Works, the region can build a stronger, more skilled workforce that drives economic growth and prosperity for years to come.

Since the reorganization, the Daman Products Creative Team has launched a variety of new products that have significantly increased their sales. In fact, they have far surpassed their initial goals, with new product revenue of $4 million and counting.

It promises to be a sight to see. Not far from the front door of a brand new Martin’s Super Market, a park is being built where you might expect to see a parking lot. “So people will be able to be at the side door, pick up you know a Starbucks or some bar-b-cue or a burger and actually be able to walk and just enjoy it right here,” said Shelley Moore with the River District implementation team. Walk is the keyword. Everything they do downtown now is designed to make the River District more walkable and livable, what with 500 new housing units expected to be completed or under construction here by 2022.

The city of Elkhart hasn’t had this kind of plan before. The city has hired Thomas P. Miller & Associates, which will subcontract with a variety of players, to do the city’s first comprehensive economic development plan dubbed Elkhart 2040. One of the key players involved will be Shelley Moore, president/founder of Insight Strategic Concepts, Inc. Moore has been a key planner of the River District and was hired to help see that the Elkhart Health & Aquatics got built. “The city of Elkhart has never taken proactive account for its own development and growth,” Moore told me last week as we chatted at The Electric Brew. The city’s Board of Public Works had just approved the $320,000 contract for the plan.

The massive Elkhart Health & Aquatics Center is finally ready. The doors are open to more than workers or those getting tours of the construction. Events are showing off the 170,000-square-foot building to people who helped pay for it and to those who will use the facility, which opens officially on Thursday. The building feels huge. “The first thing people say when they walk in is, ‘Wow.’ It’s the magnitude of it,” said Shelley Moore, president/founder of Insight Strategic Concepts, who was hired to oversee many aspects of the project.