Northeast Indiana Update.

• Author: Mayer, Kathy
• Position: Top Business Stories

Although northeast Indiana reports nearly 4,000 fewer factory jobs than this time last year; Lincoln Schrock, director of Indiana Northeast Development, isn't discouraged. New and expanding industries have invested about $150 million in more than 3 million square feet of work space since January 2001, he reports, "and many others are poised for expansion, simply waiting for the economy to improve. Long-term, the outlook is promising."

WHITLEY COUNTY

The region's biggest economic news comes from Whitley County, where a $300 million mini-steel mill is nearing completion on 440 acres in Columbia City after a delay of about two years. The Steel Dynamics Inc. facility, covering 750,000 square feet, is expected to open in the second quarter of 2002, with more than 300 workers earning about $60,000 annually. Construction of the mill, too, has been an economic boost, with about 1,400 construction workers on the job.

In other industrial news, Dorinda Heiden, president of Whitley County Economic Development Corp., reports that Superior Essex has moved into 228,000 square feet of the former Raytheon complex, where it's operating a warehouse/distribution center.

Three Columbia City facilities lead the county's industries in employment: Dana Corp.'s Preferred Technical Group, with 800 making automobile hoses and couplings; Fort Wayne Foundry, with a workforce of 400 making aluminum castings; and AutoLiv ASP, which makes airbags and employs about 360.

ALLEN COUNTY

"We had a flurry of activity in the first part of the year," says Philip Laux, president of the Greater Fort Wayne Chamber of Commerce. Today, he's cautiously optimistic. "I think the automotive industry--many of our companies are auto-related and auto is such a big part of our economy--is starting to come back, and hopefully that will take off."

In the meantime, the county is involved in a medical/high-tech effort to attract and expand that base. "We are developing a technology park (the 63-acre Greenwing Technology Community) to house these companies. We will have a place to put companies of like mind," Laux says. "Our focus on technology and innovation will only increase in the future. We're in it for the long haul."

Two Fort Wayne industries expanding in the county in the last year were DeBrand Fine Chocolates, which employs 65 and spent $3.1 million on 30,000 square feet of new space; and PepsiAmerica, a vending machine re-manufacturer employing 150, which moved from Illinois to a...