Groundbreaking ceremony held for new Argos subdivision

ARGOS, Ind. (WNDU) - The tiny town of Argos has big plans to attract new residents.

Town officials today broke ground on the centerpiece of those plans—a 32 lot subdivision with access to high-speed internet service.

A couple of weeks ago, the 21-acre site was used to grow corn.

As of today, it will be used to grow population.

“We’ve had ten houses built in three years. That was probably the most new construction housing we’ve had in the last 25 years, so. for a developer, I understand not coming in and not wanting to take a risk, just boom,” said Argos Economic Development Director Mark Van Der Weele.

So, the homes at Deerfield Meadows will be built much the same way as the last 10: with town owned land being handed over to a not-for-profit partner—the Argos Community Development Corporation. “They’re the ones that are actually going to go out and hire the contractors, work with the contractors, to get the houses actually built,” said Van Der Weele.

Realtor Mandy Campbell says she has a list of about 15 to 20 people who are interested in buying a new home in Argos. “The last couple we received, they come from Mishawaka, Warsaw, and we had some come over from Valpo and Chesterton area,”

Argos has a school corporation that still educates K through 12 students in the same building. Argos has just 1,700 residents but four different parks with splash pads, athletic fields and walking paths.

Perhaps with the addition of a sub-division with access to broadband, Argos will have what it needs to become a Zoom town. “So, what that is, now with so many people working from home, they have the ability to move where they want to move. So before, you had to work within a certain mileage of our job for a lot of places and now you don’t,” said Campbell.

Mark Van Der Weele likes to tell people if somebody would have started this 40-years ago, Argos would not be in the dire situation it now faces. “I always want to say, if you’re not growing, you’re dying. You’ve seen a lot of communities in Indiana that have fallen by the wayside.”

Plans call for the subdivision site will be placed into a TIF or tax incremental financing district. That would allow tax revenue generated by the development to be used to pay for extending infrastructure like water, sewer, electric, and high-speed internet service to the site.

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