The Indy Chamber finds itself at a milestone this year – celebrating 125 years of service to the Indianapolis community. We now look toward Indy’s future in economic development, continuing our ability to attract and retain the next generation of creative talent. Here are our top reasons why Indy’s future looks strong.
1. We’re a leader in recession recovery.
At the end of 2014, Indy’s unemployment rate was below the state and national rates, at 5.6 percent, with more than 3 million people employed in the state. It is estimated that our unemployment rate will drop to 4 percent in 2015, with Indiana expecting to add 55,000 workers.
2. We’re expanding our global connections.
As part of the Global Cities Exchange Initiative, a joint project of The Brookings Institution and JPMorgan Chase, the Indy Chamber is approaching everything we do from a global perspective. The Indy region has strong, identifiable clusters such as life sciences, advanced manufacturing, digital technology, motorsports and logistics, with Brazil and China quickly becoming key emerging export markets for our region’s businesses. As result of being a partner in the Global Cities Initiative, the Indy Chamber is building up resources to help business learn the export ropes to take advantage of the world’sgrowing purchasing power.
3. Real estate is booming
Nearly 23 percent of homeowners in downtown Indy moved here over the last five years, and both commercial and residential spaces are being occupied as more companies and homebuyers find the allure of downtown hard to pass up. Indy’s regional housing also showed an increase of 9.4 percent toward the end of 2014, with more than $9.69 million in construction for industrial real estate projects.
4. The Motorsports City is Embracing Public Transit
In October 2014, IndyGo recorded its highest one-month ridership total since 1991 with 970,019 passengers, outpacing 2013 by 0.7 percent. We anticipate even greater ridership when the 14,000-square-foot, $20 million transit center opens this November.
With all of this in addition to our workforce development plans, green business initiatives and much more, we look forward to another year of economic development accomplishments for our great region, where we choose to belong, be active and be in the know!
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