By Tim Arnett
WABASH,Indiana – Wabash Marketplace, Inc. (WMI) held their annual meeting Thursday night in the ballroom of the Charley Creek Inn. After an short introduction by WMI President Jason Callahan, Project Manager Shelby McLaughlin took to the podium to thank the membership and individual committees in the organization which work in conjunction to improve downtown. After running through a list of WMI’s 2015 accomplishments, she ended her comments to the approximately 50 attendees by saying that “the best is yet to come.”
Nate Fansher, Matt Jason and Kim Osborne became new members of the organization this year.
Executive Director Steve Downs then mentioned that the downtown has changed significantly in the 35 year history of WMI. Downs quoted both Thomas Jefferson and Oprah Winfrey in saying that the downtown revitalization that has occurred in recent years isn’t just luck. It took, he said, a lot of hard work and dedicated individuals.
Downs recounted a telephone message he received several years ago from a woman who wondered why the organization was putting so much money into downtown, saying that it will never be the same as it once was. In a poignant moment, Downs answered that WMI isn’t trying to make downtown like it used to be – it is simply trying to make the downtown better than it is right now.
Even though WMI is not directly involved with the expansion on the south side of the Charley Creek Inn, a presentation of the progress of the construction was given by Kevin Berger, President of Easterday Construction and Brent Martin, Partner at Warsaw-based SRKM Architecture. The steel beams that will make up the skeleton of the new structure has been delivered on site and, according to Martin, will start going up in the next 10 days. The new structure that will replace the old livery building will house a new expanded kitchen, employee dining room and extra storage area for the hotel. The urban plaza, which will be used for weddings and other events, will be one of the last things built. The project is slated to be completed by late summer.
