have small-town values, big city amenities,” Mayor Scott Willis explains.“Despite all that growth, I think most people will tell you that Westfield feels more like a small town in terms of the people and the culture and just the warmness that comes with that.” The balance between expansion and character presents challenges familiar to growing municipalities nationwide. Revenue demands drive development, which can strain the community’s value. Westfield’s population surge has attracted over $1.5 billion in economic development, anchored by Grand Park Sports Campus, which recorded more than 5 million visits in 2023 alone. The 400-acre facility ranks as the 16th-most visited venue in the United States, ahead of ESPN’s Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando. Since Mayor Willis took office last year, his administration has focused on transformation and diversifying the tax base.“A lot of that growth had been on the residential side,” the mayor notes.“My focus is on transforming the downtown area, increasing the commercial tax base in our community to kind of stabilize the tax revenue that we receive.” THE SOUTHWEST QUADRANT TAKES SHAPE Westfield’s downtown transformation centers on the southwest quadrant, where Union Street meets State Road 32. “We have recently seen the opening of our first mixed use development in that southwest quadrant, called The Union,” Jenell Fairman, Director of Economic Development, reports. “It includes multifamily, a handful of retail establishments that have started opening here over the last couple of weeks and a 300-space parking garage.” Additional mixed-use projects will break ground in 2025, including The Grand on Main, a $105 million development featuring 216 residential units, and the $125 million Park and Poplar project with retail, office spaces, brownstone apartments, and a public plaza. Park Street and Jersey Street, once residential areas, have evolved into dining and retail corridors with independently owned businesses creating distinct experiences. Skender , a construction firm, will relocate its Indiana headquarters to The Grand on Main development, occupying 10,000 square feet of space. The company serves as both tenant and development partner in the project. A downtown master plan covering the remaining three quadrants will be released this fall. “We’re really focusing on new urbanism concepts, including walkability,” Fairman says. “We have Grassy Branch Creek running through the middle of it, and a handful of parks that are all walkable to one another. We will have this almost circular pattern through the downtown that will allow people to have very convenient access to nature when they’re living within just a couple of blocks.” 205 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 06, ISSUE 11 WESTFIELD, IN
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