Michigan City Cuts Ribbon to Newest Development, Haskell Building

Michigan City Cuts Ribbon to Newest Development, Haskell Building

Few things work a city into as much fervor as a new building development does, from retail to industrial, conversation always swirls about new job opportunities, economic growth, and more. Michigan City welcomed that excitement on Tuesday as they cut the ribbon on their newest development in the city, the Haskell Building.

Boasting roughly 64,000 square feet of space, with room for up to 8 individual tenants, the building offers high quality industrial/flex space and utilities. Developed by Holladay Properties and built by Holladay Construction Group, the building is sure to provide a kick-start to economic development.

“It’s an opportunity,” said Michigan City Mayor Ron Meer. “Part of this building’s already been leased out, every time a business expands into these buildings, it’s job opportunities for the community - new buildings, fresh jobs - it’s really important to us.”

The Haskell Building came to be through a partnership between Holladay, the Michigan City Redevelopment Commission, Economic Development Corporation Michigan City, the Meer administration, and Tom Crane, former owner of the neighboring Chrysler Dodge Jeep RAM dealership. The ribbon cutting is a long time coming, as the idea formed back in 2016. Mike Micka, Vice President of Development at Holladay’s Portage office and leader of the Haskell Building project, voiced his excitement about building in Michigan City.

“What a project like this is going to bring is, first of all, a tax increment to the city off the real estate taxes,” said Micka. “Really, what we’re trying to get is job growth. A typical building like this is going to bring somewhere around 50 to 125 employees. That’s what Michigan City was going for, more manufacturers and more places for people to go in the city.”

Holladay Properties worked with Michigan City to make sure their development brought as much economic potential to the city as possible. A key partner in this was the Economic Development Corporation of Michigan City, who worked with Micka and his team on reading the market in the city. The result is a building with great parking, industrial capacity, and everything a business needs to succeed in a competitive market. Don Babcock, President of the city’s Redevelopment Commission, addressed the crowd before the mayor cut the ribbon.

“When we started talking with Mike Micka about the potential of this project, we got excited right away,” said Babcock. “This is a prudent, modest, high-quality investment from our community and I couldn’t be more proud to be a part of the Michigan City effort here.”

That pride goes both ways, as Holladay Properties sees efforts like this as far more than just business, being a part of and growing with the communities they build in is essential to their mission.

“To take a piece of vacant land and put a building that is beautiful and well-constructed [there] makes us all very proud,” said Holladay Marketing Director, Amanda Watson. “It’s not just building a building, we get involved with the communities that we’re located in.”

To learn more about Holladay Properties, please visit www.holladayproperties.com