Hi I'm Jeff Rea your host for Economic Outlook.

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Construction is underway on the new Mishawaka Fieldhouse, a 220,000 square foot multipurpose indoor sports complex that could help drive new tourism opportunities for our region.

We're sitting down with the project developer and the tourism bureau chief to find out more about the project and what the impact on the region will be coming up on economic outlook.

Excitement is building about the construction of a new Mishawaka fieldhouse, a 220,000 square foot multipurpose indoor sports complex that's taking shape on Mishawaka as northeast side.

We're sitting down today with the developer of that project, as well as the head of local tourism efforts.

To talk more about the project and what it will mean for our region, please join me in welcoming Jeff Jarnecke, the executive director of South Bend, Mishawaka, and Andy Card, the founder and principal at Card & Associates, the developer of the Mishawaka Fieldhouse Project.

Guys, welcome.

Thank you very much.

Jeff, thanks for having me, man.

Hey, we're thrilled to have you guys got a terrific project going on here in the community.

And we really anxious to share a little bit more about it with our viewers.

I think they're seeing the building come out of the ground and some people are still wondering what it is.

So we thought today would be a great chance to talk more about it.

So, Andy, let me come your way first and before we get into the fieldhouse itself, let's talk a little bit about you, your experience, Card & Associates, because you've done this in some other communities as well.

Give us a kind of the high level view of you and your experiences.

Perfect.

Yeah, we started a Card & Associates out in this industry about 14 years ago, a couple of years ago that was planning.

And we initially started in, you know, designing, developing, constructing and then operating athletic facilities.

After our third one, we kind of have moved into even broader developer because of the attraction that these facilities bring and tourism and athletics to the various communities.

So Card & Associates now is fully is a fully integrated up and down from the working with the community in the beginnings securing the site in a various community and then designing a facility as well as developing the ground around it, which may involve houses, multifamily housing, restaurants, retail, etc..

So we've kind of come full circle and, you know, our mission really is, is to help communities change and be better, you know, through athletic facilities, that that's kind of our mission statement.

So, you know, we've will by the end of this summer, we'll have six open in Indiana.

And we've we've also broadened out now to Florida, Texas, Colorado, Las Vegas area.

And it's been quite the ride from the very first facility that we opened up in Westfield, Indiana, Pacers Athletic Center.

Awesome.

Well, thank you anyway.

Appreciate you bringing your experience to our region.

And, well, we're anxious to see the project move forward.

Jeff, let's come your way.

You've been with us before and you're gracious to come back.

Talk a little bit about visit South Bend and the work that you do there.

Yeah, so we're part of the South Bend Regional Chamber, and there are six members of our team who work day in and day out with not only our 54 hotels that we have within the county, but our endless partners and attractions that we have within this space to bring visitors, to bring tourists, to bring business, to bring energy and life and excitement, and really showcase all the things that we have to offer, not only within Saint Joseph County, but within the entire region in this direction, that there are many of these events that don't just fit within one county.

Then you just go to multiple counties where they're on the hotel side of it, whether to use additional fields or courts or services or whatever the case may be.

And as a result of our team's effort, we're able to help welcome more than 5 million people to Saint Joseph County, each and every year.

And so we work to grow that number.

We certainly work to accentuate the role and really primary role of the University of Notre Dame.

That is the result of more than 56% of those visitors coming to our county are coming because of University of Notre Dame.

And we'll talk use sports here more in a minute because that's another significant contributor to it.

And so Andy and his team's work, along with the vision there and in Mishawaka, it's going to be something really additive and complementary to a robust program that we have within our region already.

Great.

Jeff, let's stay with you for a quick second and let's touch on that.

Your new sports, sort of the state of youth sports.

Obviously, I think the national numbers say that it's one of the fastest growing pieces of tourism.

I feel like we've done it well.

Give us a little bit of a report on the the current state of it and then talk a little bit about why something like the Mishawaka Fieldhouse was such an important priority.

Stick of it.

It's just incredible.

I think we generally knew and had been had the opportunity to unfortunately approve it a few times over, that it was recession proof.

We also now and unfortunate more recent past have proved largely youth sports are also pandemic proof along the way.

And so at a time a few years ago, when everything else seemingly shut down, youth sports didn't, I don't know that there's an end in sight, especially with the advent of other sports and even lesser extent, some of the sports specialization that that funnel continues to be refilled each and every year with kids that want to play and learn more about their sport all the way from the recreational side to those that have aspirations of being D1 athletes or even pro athletes along the way.

We have the benefit within our region of some really incredible touched, top notch facilities that are available to host amateurs, professionals and even the recreational folks alike.

So whether that's an Edwardsburg sports complex that hosts a multitude of disciplines, just an incredible facility there in Michigan to the Elkhart Aquatic Center that has had an impact of more than 34,000 room nights in its first year or so operation within Elkhart County.

So even some of the smaller facilities that, you know, an individual level may not be as impactful.

But when you put them together with other fields or ports or services in the multi county area as a real impact.

And so you take the Indiana innovators on the west side of South Bend, along with the junior Irish fields at the South Bend International Airport.

It's a really robust package that we have within the county and will are continuing to look to grow that and add to our inventory so as to welcome more and more visitors from a sports tourism perspective to our region.

Right.

Andy, let me come back your way.

So Andy you're in demand, right?

You're mentioning you're doing projects all over the place.

Talk to us a little bit about, you know, what the opportunity that you saw in the in the South Bend region and what what got you interested in doing some of this way?

Well, I'll tell you, the main thing for Mishawaka is first it starts with the leadership.

I got to tell you, Mayor Wood and Jeff Jarnecke and Ken Prince and the whole staff, the tax board up there, they were just been phenomenal group to work with.

They understand the impact that this can make.

And they also had a great understanding when we started talking, man, I think it was five, six years ago, they understood their location and and proximity to Indianapolis, Chicago and Fort Wayne and, you know, their proximity to the interstate, the toll road and infrastructure is one of the very first things that we look at.

And that was the really cool thing about Mishawaka.

It's perfectly located and we will be obtaining many, many tournaments and things from Chicago and other large cities around the world just due to the economics for hotel rooms, location, access, etc..

So that was the very first thing that attracted me.

And then, you know, just the ease of working through this group, It wasn't easy.

I'm not saying that everybody did their due diligence and that a lot of it had to do really with location and then, of course, the demographic.

There's lots of folks, you know, from Chicagoland to northern Indiana, even over, you know, up into Michigan and far over is Fort Wayne in Ohio that this facility will grab from a local and regional presence.

So that that that was the main thing.

And then the vision that everybody understood was also it wasn't just about bringing an amenity to Mishawaka for the residents.

That certainly is a big thing that we wanted to do because there's not there wasn't a lot of capacity up there related to what we do with youth sports, but also there was a big need to fill hotel rooms up with something.

You know, when Notre Dame or Bethel or somebody didn't have an event.

So we've really checked all the boxes off so far.

And and actually, I think that this is going to even grow faster and be a bigger be a bigger thing than we all thought it was.

And, you know, I kind of be careful.

I don't announce too much.

But we're already talking about expanding the facility and adding another whole indoor field for a college up there to play.

Field sports Jeff is probably going to kill me.

But an ice rink is back in the conversation now.

We're going to be talking about that again, putting that on this development again, are going to be coming up in a couple of weeks to have those discussions with folks from Notre Dame and the local hockey league.

So, you know, we haven't even opened the doors yet.

We're already talking about expanding.

And the response from the local community, from the local clubs has just been unbelievable.

We've we will have the fieldhouse capacity sold out before we ever open the doors between all the sports inside.

Wow.

That's great.

Guys, want to take a quick break here.

We're going to go out into the field.

George Lepeniotis my co-host is out to add on to what's going on here and give you an inside look.

George, let me toss it to you.

Thanks, Jeff.

I'm on the north side of Mishawaka, joined by a good friend and colleague that we both know well, Mayor Dave Wood.

Mayor, thank you for being with us.

Hey, thanks for having me out here.

Hey, Mayor.

We are standing in front of a very unique facility that's, as our viewers can tell, being built right now.

Can you tell us a little bit about this project?

But before we get there, tell me a little bit about what I'm seeing here in this North Side development, including the new water facility and what's your vision for what's going on out here?

So, well, this started off as just a bunch of undeveloped farm fields.

And so we ran some infrastructure through here donated by the property owners that allowed us the opportunity to build a new water filtration plant, about a $40 million expense.

But the importance of that is that it helps service all of our growth on the north side and so it allows us for unlimited water going into the future.

But we have this great opportunity here close to multiple major highways such as Capitol Avenue State, Road 331.

Also the Indiana toll road, which I call the main street between San Francisco and New York, the main street of America.

That's right.

This is just ground zero for a great opportunity for us to get into amateur athletics for the first time.

Yeah.

So when we talk about amateur athletics, I'm what is the what is the facility going to be?

I know that Jeff's got the owner in the studio there, talking a little bit more about it.

But from your perspective, what is the facility and what's it bring to Mishawaka?

So, Well, this facility is geared towards amateur athletics, which is a huge growing just trend out there.

And there are multiple facilities, the closest being Indianapolis, Chicago, Fort Wayne or Grand Rapids, where we're sitting here in the hole of the donut.

And so our citizens travel to those places where we could be attracting those people to come here and serving our residents as well.

And we are, in fact, just a stone's throw from Mishawaka Central business area.

I'll call it the Grape Road area, Main Street, Mishawaka, that so many of us see.

There are a number of hotels, a number of restaurants, and so the the primary user of this may not be local.

It might be a traveling family that's in volleyball or basketball or something like that.

Absolutely.

So like I said, this is a whole other the donut.

A lot of communities will build facilities like these in order to attract all the development that we already have the hotels, the shops, the entertainment.

We have that.

So only thing we're missing is athletic facility, which we think will be an engine, another economic engine that will, you know, maybe put in 20 to 30000 people in hotel rooms a year and add to our local economy.

And, you know, when we talk about the development, the reality is that while this is a part of the city has developed the infrastructure that we talked about here off of Douglas Road, but really this is a private project that the city has given a little helping hand to.

So we wanted this.

We started about six years ago.

We knew we wanted an athletic facility, so we partnered with, you know, visit South Bend, Mishawaka.

We did a feasibility study.

We also knew that we didn't want to run it.

We didn't think government was, you know, we're just not great at running certain things.

We know that this is something that's better left for the private industry to run.

And so we went out and looked for a great operator.

So we found Andy Card, who has multiple facilities in Indiana, Noblesville where we went that this facility is modeled after a little bit.

Pendleton, Lebanon and Grant Park in Westfield.

So we picked an operator that knows the business who can attract the tournaments that will fill the hotel rooms.

And that's awesome.

Let's talk a little bit about the broader economic impact.

I mean, you're right.

You call it filling that hole of the donut, but also as we sit here today, I'm looking at the activity, the construction activity, the contractors, people working, people being put to work.

And that's kind of indicative of what I feel Mishawaka is really achieve.

What is what would you say is the key to that success in the development of Mishawaka, the mindful development?

Well, we just tried to create really an environment where people want to come in and do business that's attractive for really all kinds of diverse uses, whether it's medical, whether it's athletics, whether it's manufacturing.

We just try to create an atmosphere with infrastructure, an attractive place that's a safe place to be.

And in this case onsite, they'll employ 300 or so people.

But we're very excited about the offsite potential that that is generated because of this facility.

So we're already seeing a lot of interest for the surrounding undeveloped property for things like hotels, could be retail, could be shops, could be.

I envision this to be a sports and entertainment type of a campus.

We're seeing development not far from here that's impacted because of this project we just announced here.

Just very recently, $175 million mixed use development that will fit right in with this project here and serve the greater region and keep all of these people employed and working there.

You know, it's funny, as I stand here with you, I drove through University Drive and Beacon Medical Park and the new developments over there seemed like I was taking the new road everywhere I went.

So great job here in Mishawaka.

Jeff, back to you in the studio where the owner of the project would talk more about its use and how Mishawaka really is that hole in the donut that hopefully this facility will help fill.

George, thank you.

Appreciate the inside look there.

Andy let me come back your way.

So we've talked about this.

You talked a little bit about the interest out there, but for somebody who hasn't seen the site plan, isn't sure what's going on inside the building.

Walk us through tell us about some of the amenities that are going to be available inside the complex there.

Well, when this facility opens up and the timing right now is sometime this summer, the weather's actually been cooperating a little bit for us in South Bend.

So later this summer, this will be the most state of the art indoor facility in the United States, probably in the world.

And it will contain approximately ten basketball courts, one with a championship court that will have seating for 2500 people.

There'll be 16 pickleball courts, an entire full length football field, and then soon to be added a soccer field will be an addition.

We will be playing volleyball, basketball, flag football, all kinds of other sports on.

We even do the wheelchair championships on the where we do football, which is the soccer on the wood.

I mentioned flag football.

Obviously, that's one of the fastest growing sports, believe it or not.

That's in the youth sports market right now.

Lacrosse, that basically anything you can play on the field and that'll be the indoor we'll have some retail on the front where people can you know work out and train and rehab.

There'll be a state of the art.

There'll be golf simulators, state of the art, a company called Shoot 360, which is basically the same thing as a golf simulator, only it's basketball.

And it's it's unbelievable technology around basketball.

All we'll have four D1 baseball softball fields on the outside of the facility where we'll be able to have Little League games all the way up to college games because we're going to build them to double in size and, you know, some other little surprises.

I'm not quite ready to talk about that may be involved around gaming and some other things.

So I'm really, really excited about this.

Every time we do a new facility, we've learned from a previous one.

And I tell you, I think Mishawaka and Northern Indiana is going to be really, really proud of what this facility ends up contributing and being for not only the local folks, but people around the country.

Great.

Jeff, let me come back your way.

Let's go back into the youth sports piece.

And just as you're working with your hotel partner, as Andy mentioned, you know, beyond those six or seven home football weekends, there's a need to fill hotels.

You're busy doing that with hockey and other things.

Just give us a feel for kind of what new sports does right now for our tourism partners and maybe some of the kind of businesses beyond hotels even that benefit from it.

Yeah, it's hugely important in Saint Joseph County and even behind the Saint Joseph County.

I mean, that gets down to Elkhart LaPorte and Marshall and Starke and on into Michigan.

And it's really a regional sort of environment for us that this past year, in 2023, we welcomed more than 163,000 fans that came in as part of youth sports.

They contributed more than 36,000 room nights to our economy, and that was just from 91 events.

And those were the ones that our team helped bring in.

So that economic impact is more than $24 million.

And so the project that we're talking about with Andy in the Mishawaka Fieldhouse is hugely important for us because, one, it offers a different level of sport in terms of a critical mass of volleyball courts and basketball courts in a special setting, an environment that they're creating that we don't have today, that we had two or three courts here and two or three courts there.

This is a value proposition that allows us to have a critical mass of a different sport than we have today, as well as in a year round indoor environment.

And that's really a missing piece for us in the northern part of the state right now.

And so even beyond that, there partner is at Newton Park.

And I mentioned the invaders already, Indiana invaders and JR Irish and Edwardsburg sports complex, so many others that host the soccer events and lacrosse events Byers softball and baseball complex and Leeper Park tennis that youth sports is just tremendously important to the fabric of what we do and then you throw a partner in like a University of Notre Dame and working alongside the icebox where ice itself generates about 21,000 of those rooms nights for us already, and so desperate to find those additional ICE facilities.

So it's exciting to hear that that might be a possibility again within the county to allow us to have not only the importance of the timing of those room nights coming from November to March when it's a little bit quieter and a little bit slower up here in the northern parts with some of the the climate and winter activities that we have compared to the rest of the year.

But give us that well-rounded, complete indoor, outdoor, robust package.

And I do think that this is one of those instances that if you build it, they're going to come.

And so and having a credible partner that we have in Card & Associates, in addition to all the other partners within this region, is really going to differentiate our offering compared to some of the others that we see around the country.

Yeah, go ahead.

Can I piggyback on that for a second?

Just to give you an idea, without any of the additional things I talked about, I considerably estimate that this will bring an additional $65 million annually to the local economy.

We're going to create about 450 jobs that are good paying part time jobs, as well as full time jobs.

So when you talk about the economic impact that's already happening there, this is just a catapult to put Mishawaka on the map as a major destination for all sports.

And, you know, so but it's not, you know, and not only does it fill hotel rooms, it creates jobs and it creates the economy for Mishawaka that they don't currently have.

And you're providing this the amienity for all the citizens up there.

It's just second to none.

So now people want to move there.

Teachers want to teach there.

Companies want to come because people want to live there.

And you don't talk too much about that abstract effect of what these facilities do.

But it's not.

These are real metrics.

I have now doing this for 14 years.

The impact all through it, through that they can make on a community.

Yeah, I think that's a great point.

I want to ask you to double down on this in our last two and a half minutes or so here.

And you mentioned, you know, Jeff talks about tourism impact.

You both did visitors are going to come in.

But this is an amenity that's available for the community on other days.

Right.

So this is not going to sit empty except for on weekends, right?

It is.

So if you're a local club, volleyball or basketball or whatever, you know, the community associates, just speak to that for a second about that.

The amenity that the community has to use as well, in addition to visitors coming to use it.

Well, one of the things you have to do at these facilities to make sure they're sustainable is the you can't have downtime.

We call it dwell time.

So basically what's so great about these is, for example, when other sports or Notre Dame is having, you know, events or whatever, that's when we focus on the local leads, the regional leagues and the local tournaments.

And so they're busy filling hotel rooms up.

And when their seasons are over, whether it's basketball, football or whatever it may be, our busy season is basically April through July.

So we're filling hotel rooms up and keeping the facility busy with tournaments April through July.

But we never stop the local presence, especially now with pickleball, because in our numbers we never added pickleball numbers because that was a change we made before all these measures come out that I plan on hosting pro tournaments, which has never happened in Indiana before out of this facility.

So when you start adding all these extra things together, I don't know that there really will be a time that the facility is ever empty or shut down, and that's key to making that successful because during the day you get the empty nester and the folks that want to play pickleball and work out.

So real quick, the way the timing works is when school is in session, the busy time for the facility is basically 3:00 till 10:00 at night.

During the summertime.

We are flat out busy from eight in the morning till about 10:00 at night because of our camps and our tournaments Awesome.

Great that they're awesome and we're excited about the project.

Guys, thank you both for your good work on this.

We're excited to see this come out of the ground.

As Andy mentioned, later this year, it'll be ready and they're already starting a book, so be sure to be reaching out.

Watch the progress.

Guys.

Thanks for joining me today and we'll look forward to having you back when it's open to give a completed look to everybody else.

Love it.

Thanks for having me.

So that's it for our show today.

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