Hotel developer plans $356M project at busy Indiana interchange
A company that owns or operates dozens of hotels around the country is planning a $356 million mixed-use development along one of northwestern Indiana’s busiest highway interchanges.
White Lodging announced Tuesday that 40 acres at the Interstate 65 and U.S. 30 interchange in Merrillville would be redeveloped to include an event center, hotels, restaurants, an office building and housing.
The Farm at Crossroad Commons would replace White Lodging’s former Radisson Hotel and Star Plaza Theatre, and a still-standing office complex, The Times of Northwest Indiana reported. The Radisson was torn down in 2017 and the Star Plaza was razed this summer.
The Merrillville-based company said it will cover two-thirds of the project’s cost. It’s asking municipal, county and state governments to contribute the remaining third.
White Lodging Chairman Bruce White said the project “will serve as a long-standing anchor for economic development” in the region.
Online retailer Sweetwater plans 1,009 jobs in $76M expansion
Online music instrument and audio gear retailer Sweetwater Sound Inc. plans to add 1,009 jobs in Indiana by the end of 2022 with an expansion of its 163-acre corporate campus outside Fort Wayne.
Sweetwater said Tuesday the $76.4 million expansion project will include construction of a 350,000-square-foot warehouse and a 35,000-square-foot conference center.
It said the new jobs will include logistics, marketing, merchandising, IT and administrative positions that will pay $54,000 per year on average.
Sweetwater founder and president Chuck Surack said the new warehouse will accommodate the company’s recent growth. It currently employs more than 1,300, up from fewer than 500 in 2012.
Fishers technology services company acquires Carmel-based competitor
Fishers-based Ultimate Home Automation on Wednesday announced it has acquired Carmel-based Electronic Evolutions Inc.
The merger was announced Wednesday morning at Ultimate Home Automation’s storefront at the Depot at Nickel Plate, 8594 E. 116th St., in Fishers.
The combined companies has already changed its name to Ultimate Technologies Group Inc., with Ultimate Automation founder Will O’Brien and his wife, Tiffany, taking the helm. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
O’Brien launched Ultimate Home Automation, a commercial audio-visual, automation and information technology systems provider, in early 2017 at Launch Fishers. Last year, the company moved to its own office space.
