The Class of 2023 recently met to learn about the planning and infrastructure of Hamilton County. We started off with a tour highlighting key developments in each of the four major cities in the county. After a lunch break, we heard from county and business leaders about infrastructure and ended the day by role playing a city council meeting regarding an attainable housing development.
I approached this class day with great excitement and anticipation because I am a real estate developer with Browning Investments, AKA Browning. The topics we discussed and learned about are ones I work with every week. Being relatively new to development, I saw this class as a great opportunity to learn from the changemakers of Hamilton County.
Our tour of the county was the highlight of my day. In the real estate industry, we often talk about having boots on the ground to get a feel for an area and gather intelligence for our potential investments. This tour was the epitome of having boots on the ground. Our tour guide was Corby Thompson. Corby is a well-known and well-respected real estate developer who has worked for many years in Central Indiana. He is also a graduate of the HCLA. Through my internships in college and through working in the real estate industry, I had heard of Corby and his involvement in shaping Fishers, my hometown. It was a pleasure to learn some Fishers history from him as well as the history of the other cities we passed through.
During the tour, we visited Fishers, Noblesville, Westfield, and Carmel where we met with an architect, planners, and redevelopment officials. These experts are part of the decision-making team that guides development in the county. It was a rare treat to get to see them all in one day due to the volume of developments they are working with in their respective cities. They shared a deep excitement about the current and future real estate developments in their cities.
Through our discussions with them, I was able to gain ideas for projects that my company could build. Having grown up in Hamilton County, I found myself surrounded by people who instilled in me the value of service, and I want to serve my community by providing places for people to live, have fun, and cultivate their businesses. This day and the tour reaffirmed my deep desire to build in Hamilton County.