Press Release: WestGate@Crane Technology Park to add new facility, caps off 10th anniversary year with new 10 year lease.
November 22, 2016
WestGate@Crane Technology Park to add new facility, caps off 10th anniversary year with new 10 year lease. WestGate@Crane, Ind. - November 23, 2016 - During yesterday's monthly WestGate Authority Board meeting at WestGate Academy Conferencing & Training Center, one WestGate@Crane Technology Park property owner and developer shared some great news. WestGate@Crane Development Company owner Dale Ankrom announced there would be an addition in the Tech Park with scheduled completion in November of 2017. WestGate@Crane Technology Park buildings are organized numerically. The new building will be a storage facility at WestGate Building 7 (WestGate 7). Ankrom says WestGate 7 will be home to Alion, a current Tech Park tenant that will expand from not only being office tenants, but also storage facility tenants as well. He adds the 40,000 square foot outdoor storage facility will be self-contained within six acres and located in the Daviess County portion of the Tech Park. '[Alion has] signed a ten-year lease, so they look to be at WestGate for a long period of time. The structure will be a steel structure between 20 and 24 feet on the inside. We hope to get other kinds of warehouse industries [in the Tech Park].' Phil O'Haver and Natalie Smith are both Daviess County WestGate Authority Board members. O'Haver explains why this growth means more jobs for the region and will help further develop the Tech Park. 'For the WestGate Authority Board [this] is great news because our funding is determined based on taxes paid by employees. So it's good for WestGate Authority, it's good for the Tech Park and it should lead to more development. It also gives us some opportunities now that we have another building [being constructed].' Smith says this year has had its difficulties for the Tech Park, but this news means a positive economic boost for Daviess County, the Tech Park, and for the I-69 Corridor. 'We've had a lean year this year and we've made it through. To hear this news is very exciting.' WestGate 7 will be located this time next year at the intersection of 1400 and WestGate Drive. WestGate 7 will be just south of WestGate Academy. The last construction that took place in the Tech Park was a child care facility in 2013. Founded in 2006 and located just outside of Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division, WestGate@Crane Technology Park is the only tri-county certified technology park in Indiana, is home to nearly 40 tenants with size ranging from small business to Fortune 500 companies, and has a monthly economic impact in salaries alone of $3M.