Ignition Park revs forward (update Feb. 8, 2010)

[Milaca]

http://www.southbendtribune.com/article/20100208/THRIVE/912019936

SnowLark
In the middle of Minnestudea

[COMMANDERPINK1]

Nothing really newsworthy here. As you said most of this was stated earlier in other articles. They must been in need of a filler.
Tom

[StudeRich]

Yep, I think Jeff is just Parroting!

StudeRich

[Chris_Dresbach]

.............[xx(][V][}][B)] ...But I wouldn't mind talking to David Varner, he sounds like he could be a possible help to stall the demolition of #92[8D]
(No Spark Park)
But I must say, if any good at all came of this, plant 3&4 (new home) is a much better place for the parts to stay. Everything is organised much better, Ed has done a great job. If you have ever seen the upstairs of #92, the structure of the building is not the problem, it was a mess! If you have not seen the new facility (plant 3/4 a.k.a. "Aviation plant"), I gurantee you will be very impressed, and you could (I don't reccomend this) about eat off the floors, (do not try the test cells[xx(]). Who knows, if #92 can get saved, maybe this would be a good excuse to clean it.[)]

Chris Dresbach

[Milaca]

It saddens me that building #92 couldnt have been kept for Ed's use as a parts repository for a reasonable monthly lease fee. The amount he has to pay for leasing an area in the Aviation plant is outrageous. What happens when or if the income from parts sales doesnt pay the lease? I hope it all works out okay.


SnowLark
In the middle of Minnestudea

[StudHawk60]

I'm still amused that the city thinks it could even REMOTELY utilize all that acreage. Why is the city suddenly in a rush to have even more empty lots?[xx(] Everything in SB has been moving to Mishawaka for the past 30 years anyway.[V]

[studegary]

There is a LOT of empty Class 1 and better space in East Fishkill, NY that is searching all over the World for someone to buy or lease parts of it. These are top quality facilities built by IBM. Some have been in use for chip fabrication as recently as a couple of months ago. Other than a lower cost of living and a better tax structure, I don't see how South Bend can compete with many places like this. Of course, there are all kinds of incentives to get companies to move here.

Gary L.
Wappinger, NY

SDC member since 1968
Studebaker enthusiast much longer

[Invalid User Name]

Can someone fill me in on the nanotechnology thing? Why has S.B. decided that suddenly they will become the center of this industry? As a total outsider, I am confused.

Doug
Venice, Florida
1950 Champion
9G F1

[Jeff_H]

I am pretty skeptical about nano-tech in the real near future at least. Maybe in a few years.

This company put up a fancy new building across the street from my office in 2005 to make smart (RFID) tags:

http://www.alientechnology.com/

Trade mag article from 2005 about it:

http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/1357/1/1/

The place never fully ramped up and after the economy went down they closed it last spring:

http://www.wday.com/event/article/id/20874/

http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/240624/

The building is for sale! For $7M you can have a basically new high-tech mfg building.

Here is the sale flyer:

http://www.business.nd.gov/uploads/resources/337/alien-technology-building-brochure.pdf

Seems to me with existing buildings suitable for IC and chip mfg like this and the ones Gary mentions, it would be the way to go rather than build new. This type of mfg requires clean rooms, etc and that means a lot of special infrastructure in the buildings for the HVAC
systems. Also could mean suspended floors for vibration.

IC mfg has been moving out of the US for years along with other electronics mfg so lots of empty building around already.


Jeff in ND

'53 Champion Hardtop

[Milaca]

Somebody should inform South Bend that they are competing with China. Dream on South Bend. [B)]


SnowLark
In the middle of Minnestudea

[Chris_Dresbach]

quote:Originally posted by Invalid User Name

Can someone fill me in on the nanotechnology thing? Why has S.B. decided that suddenly they will become the center of this industry? As a total outsider, I am confused.

Doug
Venice, Florida
1950 Champion
9G F1

Nanotechnology is the extreme science of taking something the size of an atom (as in "nano") and making a product. Something like the microchip in a cell phone is an example of nanotechnology. Here is the down side, the ground has to be perfectly stable. The area where Studebaker is literally vibrates when the trains go by, we can feel it in #92. Something like this really belongs in literally the middle of nowhere where the ground is stable. Another reason why the ground can't handle this is because indiana (and South Bend) is on a fault line, so we get the ocasional earth quake or tremor. It is the same fault responsible for the quake in Illinois the other day. Why South Bend would want this is anybodys guess, probably somebody is making a few bucks from it. I would guess that if anybody into nanotechnology would move there, they would see that the ground vibrates and would move out in a short amount of time on their own.

Chris Dresbach

[Chris_Dresbach]

quote:Originally posted by Milaca

Somebody should inform South Bend that they are competing with China. Dream on South Bend. [B)]


SnowLark
In the middle of Minnestudea

Been there, done that, no response.[B)]

Chris Dresbach

[stude62]

Personally, I think they are doing it because they can. And because tearing things down in this nation has become the only way you can prove that you are getting something done.

Somone has decided that the future is in nano technology and the guy at the next desk said "yeah, we can get all this done and say that we are doing it to attract nano techology, great idea Boyd!"

Ten years from now they will be sitting around the same set of desks and say "It was a shame that those Studebaker buildings came down, we could have rehabbed them into office condos."

When the pendulum swings too far in one direction, it starts to swing back in the opposite direction. Thats government.



Stu K


'63 Lark Regal, "Miss Rose"

[Chris_Dresbach]

quote:Originally posted by stude62

Personally, I think they are doing it because they can. And because tearing things down in this nation has become the only way you can prove that you are getting something done.

Somone has decided that the future is in nano technology and the guy at the next desk said "yeah, we can get all this done and say that we are doing it to attract nano techology, great idea Boyd!"

Ten years from now they will be sitting around the same set of desks and say "It was a shame that those Studebaker buildings came down, we could have rehabbed them into office condos."

When the pendulum swings too far in one direction, it starts to swing back in the opposite direction. Thats government.



Stu K


'63 Lark Regal, "Miss Rose"

So true.[xx(][V][}][B)]

Chris Dresbach

[comatus]

Brilliant observation. There was a joke in Kiplinger's Changing Times back in the 60's that went, "A generation is the length of time between when they tear down an old eyesore and when they build a historical replica of it."

I tried to save the elementary school that my father and I and my son attended. I might as well have been spitting into the wind. The winning argument was that the old building was not hard-wired for computers, and the new building now has wi-fi.

When you go to commit public funds to "improvement," the first thing you sell the rubes is a shiny new building. In education, this is called "Same bulls**t, bigger barn."