The Lake County Economic Alliance (LCEA) held a fall reception for a Spotlight on Development on Wednesday, November 20. The event took place at County Line Orchard in Hobart Indiana.
This event not only serves as a 10 year celebration for the LCEA, but also a way to highlight some transformational projects in Northwest Indiana. President & CEO Chris Salatas led the program by recognizing the celebration and the recent projects in Lake County.
“We have six projects that we’re highlighting throughout the night,” Salatas said. “We want to show the different mix of what’s going on in the Region, specifically in Lake County communities. This is also a great networking event that helps connect municipal leaders, business leaders, site selectors and other people involved in the economic development process with each other.”
Attendees could find newspaper themed poster boards throughout the event, featuring some of the biggest projects that have been put together by the LCEA. Salatas believes that events like this are a great way to gather together the people who play large roles in strengthening the community.
“We want to be a catalyst for projects that move Lake County forward,” Salatas said. “It’s our bread and butter to connect all of the industries that make economic development happen. We’re planning to have more of these in the future and start additional networking breakfast events and facilitate those connections.”
The growth of the LCEA in such a short amount of time has been a huge factor in managing so many projects in a timely manner. LCEA Board Chairman, Paul Beneturski, is most impressed with the growth of the organization since 2022.
“At this time last year, we had just 13 members,” Beneturski said. “Now we’re up to 41 in the past 17 months. We have great board members and investors that make the LCEA do everything we can.”
Matthew “Matt” Wells, Chief Engagement Officer at Purdue University Northwest and President & CEO of One Region, was one of the presenting sponsors for this event. He shared a recap of the projects the LCEA has been working with as well as his gratitude for the impressive turnout.
“We’re doing a lot of initiative development,” Wells said. “There’s a great story going on right now in Lake County. The amount of energy that we’re seeing for new investment in this area is unlike anything I’ve seen in my 14 years of living in Northwest Indiana. It’s a very exciting time.”
The LCEA is proud to showcase growth and development for a decade and hopes to continue doing so for a very long time.
“We hope to continue growing the membership that facilitates our network in 2025,” Salatas said. “We’re working with a few of our members on identifying large sites for economic development. It’s important for us to figure out where the void is and how to assist in this community.”
Purdue University Northwest and One Region were the presenting sponsors for the event. The donut sponsor was HWC Engineering, and the bar sponsor was Bear Construction. Event sponsors for the fall reception included Avison Young, Commercial In-Sites, Tonn and Blank Construction, Saxon Partners, Wintrust and NWI Development.For more information about the LCEA, you can visit its website.
