Kendallville, IN

A Community That Grows Together

Building Momentum Through Housing, Workforce, and Community Vision

Kendallville is proving that meaningful growth does not happen by accident. It takes persistence, strong partnerships, and a willingness to adapt when plans change. In this northeast Indiana city, leaders are embracing all three as they work to expand housing, support local industry, strengthen workforce pipelines, and continue the momentum of a downtown and community revitalization effort that is already delivering results.

For Mayor Lance Waters and local economic development leaders, the past year has underscored both the opportunities and the realities of growth. Like many communities across the country, Kendallville has faced housing challenges, particularly as demand has increased and development timelines have shifted. Yet rather than allow setbacks to stall progress, the city has continued moving forward, finding new partners and new paths to deliver the housing stock its workforce and residents need.

“One of the challenges that we’re seeing, but it’s not any different than most municipalities in our area, is housing,” Mayor Waters explains. “We had been working to develop housing in some of those downtown buildings as well, and we had struggled with some developers to do those.”

That difficulty could have slowed the city’s broader development strategy. Instead, it led to new opportunities. Working with alternative developers, Kendallville has moved ahead with multiple housing projects that will help address local needs at different price points and in different parts of the city.

On the east side of the community, Deerfield Apartments is expanding onto three undeveloped acres behind its existing property. The city supported that project through a tax abatement, and occupancy is expected to begin soon. In another significant development, Windsor Development has launched Fairview Flats, a new 44-unit apartment complex designed as upscale workforce housing in the center of the city.

Together with continued construction in other housing additions such as Noble Creek, these projects are helping to build the kind of residential capacity Kendallville needs to sustain growth.

For Tara Streb, Chief Operations Officer for Be Noble, Inc., the lead economic development organization for Noble County, and a Kendallville City Council member, the pace of housing activity has been especially encouraging.

“The housing boom has picked up everywhere else in the community,” she says. “Even our Noble Creek housing addition, it took a while to take off, but even this past year, I think that’s almost full now of new builds.”

That growth in housing is critical because it supports the broader economic story unfolding in Kendallville. The city is not only attracting investment, but also reinforcing the strengths of long-established local manufacturers while creating conditions for new commercial and industrial development.

One of the clearest examples is the city’s collaboration with local businesses on expansion and retention. Kendallville’s leadership has built a reputation for working closely with employers, understanding operational needs, and responding in ways that help businesses grow while strengthening the community as a whole.

Mayor Waters points to the success of Herbruck’s Poultry Ranch as a strong example of that kind of partnership. The company, a multi-generational, community-oriented business, worked closely with the city at every stage of its project. Because of the nature of its operations, coordination with municipal departments, including wastewater and pretreatment staff, was especially important.

“They were just great partners to work with,” Mayor Waters says.

The city’s local development corporation and economic development team also helped support the shell building that ultimately created the opportunity for Herbruck’s to locate and grow in Kendallville. It is a model that illustrates how collaboration between public and private stakeholders can lead to real, tangible wins for the local economy.

That same cooperative spirit is evident in other expansion projects now taking shape. Streb highlights Flint & Walling, one of Kendallville’s most established manufacturers, as another major success story. The company is preparing for a $3.2 million investment in its facility, supported by a tax abatement, that will bring equipment, production, and jobs back from Taiwan to Kendallville.

“To me, that is a huge success story,” she says. “We’re able to bring production back into the United States and have it locally produced here.”

The fact that so many of Kendallville’s manufacturers have been in the community for decades adds another layer of strength to the city’s economic base. These are not transactional relationships. They are longstanding partnerships built on familiarity, trust, and a shared commitment to the region. In Kendallville, business leaders are not distant figures. They are part of the fabric of the city.

“The great thing about Kendallville is the execs for these companies, you know each other,” Streb notes. “You’ll see them walking down Main Street, and you’ll have one at the same places as they do. Those personal relationships really make a huge difference.”

That local connection is one reason the city is able to respond effectively to business needs. It is also why Kendallville’s industrial development efforts continue to gain traction. The local development corporation has acquired property in the industrial park and is working to provide that land at a much more favorable rate to prospective industrial users than they would find at standard market prices. With infrastructure already in place, the site is now considered shovel-ready, giving Kendallville a strong position when speaking with potential employers.

This kind of readiness matters more than ever in today’s economic environment, where communities are competing not just regionally but nationally for investment. Kendallville’s advantage lies in pairing practical development tools with a quality-of-life story that continues to get stronger.

That quality of life is visible in the city’s active parks system, growing tourism presence, and calendar of community events that help bring energy and foot traffic into downtown and public spaces. Mayor Waters notes that Kendallville’s park system is unusually extensive for a city of its size, with trails, gathering spaces, and a steady flow of activities that help make the city attractive to residents and visitors alike.

The city hosts concerts, food trucks, and community programming through initiatives such as Final Fridays on Main Street and the Second Saturday Soirees in the park. Kendallville is also home to the award-winning Fairy, Gnome, and Troll Festival, a spring event that has become a standout attraction for families and visitors.

Tourism has grown along with these investments. According to Mayor Waters, Noble County recently recorded the greatest increase in tourism of any county in Indiana, a notable achievement that reflects both local programming and the work of an active visitors bureau.

That sense of vibrancy feeds directly into workforce and economic development. Employers today are not simply choosing locations based on cost or site availability. They are also looking for communities where people want to live. Kendallville’s investments in events, parks, and downtown activation help support that conversation, but so does the city’s practical approach to workforce development.

One of its strongest assets is the presence of Impact Institute, a four-county vocational school headquartered in Kendallville. Through partnerships with the school and the community’s learning center, local leaders are helping students and adults build the skills employers need right now.

A particular area of focus has been Industry 4.0 training, which includes robotics, robotics maintenance, and robotics programming. These programs are available at both the high school and adult levels, creating pathways into advanced manufacturing careers for a wide range of learners.

“It has helped create some partnerships with local industry and brought people into the jobs that are needed in that kind of field,” Mayor Waters says. “They’re getting the training right here locally.”

Streb adds that the benefit extends well beyond robotics. Impact Institute offers career-focused education in fields ranging from criminal justice and healthcare to food and beverage, welding, and marine mechanics. Students are often able to leave with certifications in hand, giving them the ability to enter the workforce quickly and with relevant credentials.

“The high schoolers walk away with certification so they can enter right after graduation,” she says.

That direct pipeline between education and employment is becoming one of Kendallville’s most valuable tools. It not only supports local employers but also helps reinforce the city’s broader message: this is a place where businesses can find talent, and where residents can build careers without leaving the region.

Looking ahead, city leaders see even more opportunity on the horizon. Mayor Waters says one encouraging development has been the emergence of a citizen-led group working to acquire older commercial structures, renovate them, and recruit businesses that match the community’s needs. It is not a conventional developer-driven model, but it reflects a deep level of local buy-in and pride.

“For me, it’s really neat to see some of that being spearheaded by the citizens rather than developers or the city,” she says.

Streb is equally optimistic about the year ahead, particularly with new leadership energy emerging within local committees and development circles.

“I think over the next year, we’re going to see a lot of new commercial and manufacturing investments,” she says. “We have some new faces that are ready to move on to some big things.”

That optimism feels well placed. Kendallville has already shown that it can navigate obstacles, adjust its strategy, and keep moving forward. Housing challenges have not derailed progress. Instead, they have sharpened the city’s focus. Business retention is not being treated as routine maintenance, but as an opportunity to deepen longstanding partnerships and encourage reinvestment. Workforce development is not happening in isolation, but in direct alignment with employer needs. And quality of life is not an afterthought, but a central part of the city’s growth strategy.

Kendallville’s story is one of intentional development rooted in local relationships. It is a city investing in housing, nurturing its manufacturers, preparing its workforce, and creating a more vibrant place to live in the process. In a time when many communities are trying to figure out how to balance growth with livability, Kendallville offers a compelling example of how to do both.

AT A GLANCE

Who: Kendallville, IN

What: A close-knit community that is embracing growth ahead with a focus on business and housing projects

Where: Northeast Indiana, USA

Website: www.kendallvillein.gov