HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-07-2011 Luecke: High-tech business to build in Ignition Park
Office of the Mayor
NEWS RELEASE
February 7, 2011
7 p.m.
Luecke: High-tech business to build in Ignition Park
Contact:
Mikki Dobski, Director of Communications & Special Projects, 235-5855 or 876-1564
THIS NEWS RELEASE IS EMBARGOED UNTIL 7 P.M. MONDAY, FEB. 7, 2011.
Mayor Stephen J. Luecke said today that the City of South Bend will sell land in Ignition
Park, the state-certified technology park in the former Studebaker Corridor, to a high-tech
business, which will begin construction this spring on the tech park’s first private facility.
In his 15th State of the City address to the South Bend Common Council, Luecke cited
progress in Ignition Park and Innovation Park at Notre Dame, which together constitute
Indiana’s only dual-site state-certified technology park, among several examples of signs of
progress and hope throughout South Bend.
“After extensive work by our Department of Community and Economic Development, we
have plans to sell the first property in Ignition Park to private investors, who will build the
first for-profit facility in Ignition Park,” Luecke said. “This business is a great example of the
type of high-tech investment we’ve worked for at Ignition Park.”
“The promising future we’ve envisioned for Ignition Park is already beginning,” he added.
Luecke will announce more details about the development in Ignition Park in a news
conference at 10 a.m. Wednesday at Innovation Park at Notre Dame.
Demolition of the final two Studebaker buildings in the current 83-acre footprint for Ignition
Park began in January. Work is expected to proceed in 2011 alongside the new construction,
removing the former Studebaker Engineering Building (which recently housed Studebaker
Auto Supply Co.) and the former Studebaker Foundry (which recently housed Underground
Pipe & Valve). Both companies relocated to facilities in South Bend.
“When the site is cleared this year, we will have completed Indiana’s most comprehensive
brownfield remediation effort – more than 2.5-million square feet in seven obsolete buildings
removed from the portion targeted for Ignition Park alone,” he said.
Transpo’s new administration, maintenance and operations facility – the first public facility
in Ignition Park – with its status as the nation’s first LEED Platinum-certified transit facility
is setting a high standard for the new private facility, according to Luecke.
“Like the curving roofline in the Transpo facility, Ignition Park is the bridge between South
Bend’s past and future,” Luecke said. “It connects us to our history as a world-famed
manufacturing center with innovative companies like Studebaker and Bendix. And it points
us to our promising future – a future rooted in entrepreneurship, technology, scientific
research and other innovations that are powering the new economy in South Bend.”
Speaking from the Indiana University School of Medicine in South Bend, Luecke highlighted
new development at the medical school, Innovation Park and Eddy Street Commons as signs
of excellence that have brought national recognition to South Bend. South Bend recently
received the National League of Cities’ Gold Award for Municipal Excellence for
revitalization of the Northeast Neighborhood. Other signs of excellence in 2010 included
being named the nation’s No. 1 city for value, stability and rising prices in a home,
designation as a Bicycle Friendly Community, and the recognition of two city officials –
Gary Gilot as the nation’s Public Works Leader of the Year and Phil St. Clair as Outstanding
Professional of the Year by the Indiana Parks & Recreation Association.
As an example of South Bend’s continued striving for excellence, Luecke announced two
new partnerships with IBM:
?Creation of a dashboard, or computerized control panel, for CSOnet, which is enabling
South Bend to become the world’s first city to monitor and control combined sewer
overflows with real-time sensors.
?Using IBM analytics and benchmarking to help South Bend become a “Smarter City,”
especially when competing for economic development, with support from IBM’s Global
Locations Strategies team.
“The state of the city is strong, but we strive for excellence,” Luecke said, noting that two
separate agencies improved bond ratings for the City in 2010. “We are financially sound,
with strong reserves that helped us to weather the recession and changes to our property tax
system that give us the ability to deal with the Blizzard of 2011 and to reinvest in facilities
and economic-development initiatives.”
Luecke also highlighted the City of South Bend’s support for job-creation and retention
efforts, through such efforts as its Business Growth Initiative with the Chamber of
Commerce.
“Despite bad news at Bosch and A.J. Wright, local companies are expanding and adding
jobs, and success at Innovation Park and Ignition Park has us poised to add a strong sector of
good-paying, high-tech jobs to our diversified economy,” he said.
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