How Terre Haute Has Grown and What Could Come Next
TERRE HAUTE, Ind.–Terre Haute Mayor Brandon Sakbun says his city is growing and the future is bright.
Sakbun says there’s new development on the horizon. In order to make way for that, 127 dilapidated homes have been demolished in the last 18 months.
“When you look at some of the public-private partnerships that we’ve done … we’re bringing some more commercial opportunities to the area. On top of that, we’re doing a lot of planning. … We recognize there’s utility constraints in the Hoosier state, and we’re going to find an answer to that, because we want employers, businesses [and] commercial developments to know that we are capable from a utility standpoint,” said Terre Haute Mayor Brandon Sakbun in an interview with Inside Indiana Business.
For example, Sakbun says the State Road 46 Commercial Development received $3.1 million in private investment.
“We’re making building permits a quick and easy process online. We’re doing plan review. Our city staff is here to work with the development community. If you need a plan design to be reviewed, I tell our team ‘You’ve got 24 hours to give them a response’ because we owe them very clear and concise answers about where we view their projects,” said Sakbun.
More than $70 million in private money has been helping Terre Haute which is why both Sakbun and the Terre Haute Convention and Visitors Bureau say they need to get a third hotel.
Sakbun says the city is also focusing on partnerships with higher education institutions, including Indiana State University, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College and Ivy Tech Community College.
“They are doing an excellent job of communicating with the city, with the chamber, about not where Indiana State can go, but where Indiana State and Terre Haute can go when we move together,” Sakbun said. “You can’t talk about Terre Haute, Indiana, without mentioning what [Chancellor] Lea Anne Crooks is doing at Ivy Tech. That is a great community college focused on workforce development, giving opportunities in the nursing field, with our labor community, with advanced manufacturing, and we continue to see good growth.”
