Business View Civil and Municipal | January 2021

102 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL JANUARY 2021 AT A GLANCE HUNTINGTON, INDIANA WHAT: Mid-sized city; population 17,000 WHERE: 25 miles outside of Fort Wayne, Indiana WEBSITE: https://www.huntington.in.us/ HUNTINGTON, Indiana A long the banks of both the Wabash and Little Rivers sits the City of Huntington, Indiana, which also happens to be conveniently located along the I-69, just minutes from nearby Fort Wayne – the second largest city in the state. With a growing historic downtown, and many new families moving to the area, Huntington’s star is on the rise. And it’s a place worthy of investment, according to Mayor Richard Strick. “Huntington is a city that is really investing in itself,” says Strick. “We have leadership across generations that is involved right now and engaged and working together to accomplish some longstanding goals, but also to overcome some of the new challenges we are facing as a global economy.” Investments are being made all through the city with the development of a second industrial park, improvements to the city’s river greenway, downtown enhancements, education and healthcare boosts, and substantial infrastructure projects. “There has been a big shift in the mentality for folks to see that this place can be great, and in many ways it is great,” Strick notes. “So now, it’s ‘how do we build on those strengths?’ and ‘how do we make it even better?’ and that’s the fun part.” The city has recently acquired 172 acres on the west side of town for an industrial park. This acquisition is coming together after more than 20 years of being part of the community conversation. The parcel of land has been identified because of access to rail lines, access to an interstate highway system, and a relatively easy-to-engineer infrastructure buildout. Huntington is pursuing an economic development agency grant to help with that infrastructure and accelerate it, and it is A N I N V E S T M E N T W O R T H M A K I N G