7/27/2010 6:08:00 PM $6.6 million federal grant will help fund expansion at Crane facility
Herald
CRANE — The Economic Development Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce has awarded a $6.6 million grant to the WestGate @ Crane Authority and the Southern Indiana Development Commission. The grant will help fund a 60,000-square-foot, two-story conference center and business incubator that will include training facilities, office space and room for university-level involvement in research and development.
The nearby $2 billion Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center conducts technology and research symposia across the country, as well as several training activities for vendors and technology partners. Kent Parisien, president of the WestGate Authority, said that the presence of a new WestGate conference center and hotel likely will bring “many of those high-end conferences and training sessions back here to southern Indiana, particularly when I-69 opens next to the park.”
Parisien said he expects this addition to help attract a hotel developer and operator, new retail space and other amenities for the WestGate.
According to the announcement by Gary Locke, U.S. secretary of commerce, the WestGate project is expected to create 255 jobs and generate $10.87 million in private investment.
“This EDA grant will create jobs in the tri-county area by helping entrepreneurs leverage existing local resources to create new businesses and support regional economic growth,” Locke said.
Additional funding for the project, which is expected to total more than $8 million, will come from the Indiana Economic Development Corp., WestGate Authority funds and the Daviess County Economic Development Foundation.
Vic Lechtenberg, vice provost of engagement for Purdue University, said that the WestGate had become more attractive to university and technology engagement through the previous development of more than 100,000 square feet of new technology facilities and the presence of numerous major commercial defense companies.
“This new WestGate Academy will likely open fresh opportunities for university-level involvement in defense technology research and development, which will bring new national attention to the region,” Lechtenberg continued.
The Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, a private engineering school in Terre Haute, has maintained a graduate engineering program on the NSWC Crane base for several years.
A groundbreaking date for the new facility is expected to be set in late fall and active construction is expected to begin before the end of the year, according to Parisien.
More than 275 new high-technology positions have been created in the WestGate in the past few years. Total employment in the park exceeds 400 employees.
