UPLAND, Ind. –Governor Eric Holcomb today joined community and academic leaders for a groundbreaking and two ribbon cuttings to launch the largest series of revitalization projects in Upland’s history.
Today’s groundbreaking was for a pivotal mile-long pedestrian connection that will link downtown Upland and the business district with Taylor University’s campus. It will include a widened sidewalk and lighting to create a welcoming pedestrian corridor along Main Street, providing easy access for residents and students to frequent area businesses, enjoy recreational activities, and increase social connections.
The revamped corridor is only the beginning. Upcoming projects include a boutique collegiate hotel, retail and office space, a destination restaurant, and multiple units of new housing.
A 28-unit, market-rate apartment community is already under construction and future projects include expansion of the public library, additional trails that connect to the Cardinal Greenway, a new community park, short-term rental guest cottages, a destination restaurant, a 55+ community, and a new single-family neighborhood.
Most of those developments fall within the framework of the community’s Main Street Mile Initiative. They are in addition to $100 million Taylor University has committed for on-campus improvements under its master plan, for a total of $200 million invested in just a few square miles, an enormous sum for a town the size of Upland.
Last December the Lilly Endowment, through its College and Community Collaboration Initiative, awarded Taylor $30 million to carry out the Main Street Mile work. It was the largest single grant in the history of the University, and among the largest of some $450 million the Lilly Endowment has awarded so far to 19 colleges and universities.
Taylor University is facilitating more than $70 million in matching funds through private investment, partnerships, donations, and grants. The Upland initiative will be shepherded by 1846 Enterprises, Inc., an economic and community development organization named for the year the University was founded. In April, the entity named Andrea Masvero, a Taylor alum with more than 25 years of experience in commercial real estate development, to be its executive director.
Following the groundbreaking for the pedestrian connection, Holcomb participated in a ribbon cutting for Taylor’s new Residential Village, a five-building complex to accommodate the University’s unprecedented growth in enrollment. He then moved on to a luncheon for more than 400 attendees in a new event center named Habecker Hall, honoring Taylor President Emeritus Gene Habecker and his wife, Marylou.
