Transformational central projects, plus a public/private/philanthropic team to champion them
CLIENT: City of Muncie, Indiana; Muncie public, private + philanthropic leadership
DATES: 2018 – PRESENT
NEED: Muncie is one of many Midwest cities that faced significant economic change and the loss of manufacturing jobs due to recession in the early 2000s—and is one of the three communities that participated in the 2014 ECIRPD tri-city manufacturing economic strategy project. From this, the City of Muncie aimed to solidify and implement a long-term redevelopment and revitalization effort.
V&A ROLE: V&A helped to bring together a public, private and philanthropic leadership team, and to define goals and messaging under the umbrella of a new entity: Next Muncie. V&A also helped identify projects in the Central City that have the greatest market potential. The objective was to harness Muncie’s place-based assets, along with its anchor institutions of IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital and Ball State University, to create positive economic and quality of life changes.
PROJECT ELEMENTS: A number of strategic project areas and specific projects make up the Next Muncie strategy. Several of these Central City projects are now in the implementation stages, including:
- Opportunity Zones
- Ivy Tech Redevelopment
- White River Canal District
- Live-Learn Neighborhood
RESULTS + IMPACT: Most of the projects identified in the Central City Opportunity Area have now been implemented.