The speed and level of industrial occupancy that has occurred across Noble County in recent months is extraordinary.

A total of 20 industrial buildings across the county have been sold or leased in recent months. New occupants include local, expanding companies as well as employers that are new to the county. New occupancies have taken 560,000 square feet of industrial space off the market so far this year.

While Noble County lost a few employers that vacated a handful of industrial buildings recently, most citing the impacts of COVID-19, a look across the sector just a few months later reveals an incredible net gain in the occupancy of industrial buildings.

Just three existing buildings, comprising a total of about 100,000 square feet, and another offering a whopping 284,000 square feet, are all that remain on the market locally. Another building, currently partially occupied, is expected to be sold soon and bring another new employer to the county. A new shell building in Kendallville, expected to be completed in early 2022, will bring another 75,000 square feet (expandable to 100,000 square feet) to the county. Several parties have already expressed interest in that structure.

Of the few industrial buildings that remain vacant, none have high ceilings (24 feet and higher) that most companies seek. Noble County Economic Development Corporation (EDC) has received 81 formal requests for information from site selectors so far this year and has pitched available sites and buildings 41 times in reply. The EDC received just 47 formal requests for information during all of 2020 (and replied 12 times), a year the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) said was “record-breaking” for new investments in the Hoosier state. When the final tallies are done, 2021 is likely to exceed all expectations for local industrial growth.