Work continues to fill a building developed to attract major employers to Marshall County.
The Commerce Building – which is the formal name of the shell building developed in Plymouth – saw construction completed earlier this year. Ground was broken in 2014. The building was purposefully left at 90-percent completion to help accommodate specific floor and infrastructure requirements a prospective business may desire.
Marshall County Economic Development Corporation Executive Director Jerry Chavez says a fair amount of activity has been generated.
“I think as I’m starting to learn, that interest will probably be heightened,” says Chavez. “If you look at construction costs, cost of concrete nowadays, and the lead time to get panels. So a building that’s already up and running, 90-percent of it is completed. It does have appeal in the marketplace.”
Construction costs, labor costs, and material costs can often vary depending on the time of year. Chavez says this is a positive for the Commerce Building as it can help meet a sudden increase in demand in a rather short period of time.
Non-disclosure agreements are preventing additional information on the level of interest from being released. Chavez says Indiana is positioned well to accommodate structures such as the commerce building.
“It’s the age old issue: if you have a good product, you need to let the market know that you have a good product,” says Chavez. “So for us, we’re fortunate that we have a number of partners that help us do that. So these partners do have a financial and vested interest in seeing somebody occupy that building.”
The Commerce Building may not be the last structure building in Marshall County. Chavez says research indicates several more could be accommodated in the future.
He says serious consideration will likely pick-up in the near term as conversations with smaller communities continue.
