Muncie & Delaware County: new confidence and investment--Sallie Mae, IBM and more to come.

• Author: Mayer, Kathy
• Position: REGIONAL REPORT EAST CENTRAL

RECENT NEWS BRINGS new opportunity to a county hit by manufacturing declines, says Terry Murphy, Muncie-Delaware County Economic Development Alliance vice president.

Among the newcomers are student-loan provider, Sallie Mae, opened in Muncie last October and today employing 675 at its collection center and IBM, opening a customer- service center in Daleville this fall, where it will employ 500. Miasa Automotive LLC, a Spanish company chose Muncie for its first U.S. gearbox component manufacturing site, with 12 on its initial workforce.

Another choosing Delaware County is Muncie Ethanol Holdings, which broke ground in June for a $165 million ethanol plant that will employ about 65.

And another new employer is expected soon, too. "I'm not sure when the announcement is coming, and we've all signed confidentiality agreements," Murphy says. It's been reported that it would be a bio-life business, and the investment would be about $70 million.

These new arrivals are helping to offset the loss of about 2,000 jobs from 1998 to 2001 with the closing of GM's Manual Transmissions and reductions at Borg Warner, which will completely close in two years.

Muncie is home to Ball State University, the county's largest employer, with nearly 3,500 on the payroll. "Having 18,000 students and all the faculty is a very substantial, very stabilizing force for the economy, and it gives us instant access to some very high-quality graduates," Murphy says.

Ivy Tech Community College employs another 375, where student enrollment is about 6,000.

Ball Memorial Hospital and its owner Cardinal Health System Inc. employ 3,200; the hospital is now in the midst of a $122 million expansion and renovation. Muncie is also home to PA Labs, the largest medical laboratory service in the state, which employs 366, and Westminster Village Muncie Inc., a 150-apartment retirement home that also has a 76-bed health center and employs 215. It expanded this year, opening a fitness center...