Subaru signals $64.5M for hybrid production at Lafayette plant
Subaru signals $64.5M for hybrid production at Lafayette plant
SIA tax abatement requests come a week after Subaru announced Forester models would be made in Lafayette. Plus, for a CC grad, homecoming comes full circle at 50th ’Round the Fountain Art Fair
Thanks to Stuart & Branigin for continued support of the Based in Lafayette reporting project.
SUBARU HAS $64.5M EXPANSION PLANS FOR LAFAYETTE PLANT
Subaru of Indiana Automotive has plans to put $64.5 million into its Lafayette plant in a project that will bring hybrid electric vehicle production, according to documents filed with the city in the past week.
Subaru officials are scheduled to ask for property tax abatements on $5 million in facility work and $59.5 million in equipment when the Lafayette Redevelopment Commission meets Thursday morning.
Craig Koven, an SIA spokesman, said he wasn’t able to share details Tuesday. Dennis Carson, Lafayette’s economic development director, gave a similar response Tuesday.
The description of the proposed project, according to the application: “This project involves substantial capital investment and additional jobs to bring production of strong hybrid electric vehicle production to SIA.”
According to the tax abatement application filed with the city, Subaru expects the project will bring 100 new jobs to a labor force of 6,464 today. The paperwork filed with the city describes a project starting yet this year and wrapped up in April 2026.
The SIA request comes a week after Atsushi Osaki, Subaru president and CEO, said during call outlining company earnings that the Lafayette plant – Subaru’s only North American presence – to make a next-generation Forester models, both in gasoline and hybrid versions of the compact SUV.
In April, the company announced that it would end production of the Legacy sedan models made in Lafayette at the end of the 2025 model year.
After the Forester decision, Scott Brand, SIA president, told Inside Indiana Business: “We’re excited about Subaru Corporation’s decision to build the Forester at our facility. Once again, they’ve demonstrated their confidence in our associates to build the company’s most popular models. We take pride in these opportunities to remain a key contributor to the brand’s continued success."
The 5.8-million-square-foot facility, on 820 acres along Indiana 38, also makes Outback, Crosstrek and Ascent model. According to SIA figures, the Lafayette plant is projected to make 377,500 vehicles in 2024, which would be the most at the facility since it opened for production in 1989.
SIA’s tax abatement requests would cover 10 years, with breaks stepping down in 10% increments from 100% the first year to 10% in the final year.
The Lafayette Redevelopment Commission will meet at 11 a.m. Thursday at city hall, 20 N. Sixth St.
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Editor’s note: Saturday marks the 50th anniversary for the ‘Round the Fountain Art Fair in downtown Lafayette. Today’s story, tying that first year in 1974 and this year’s juried fair around the Tippecanoe County Courthouse, comes to Based in Lafayette friend Grant Flora. Enjoy.
ARTIST JOHN MACDONALD, NOW A JUDGE, COMES FULL CIRCLE AT THE 50TH ’ROUND THE FOUNTAIN ART FAIR
By Grant Flora / For Based in Lafayette
For professional artist and Lafayette native John MacDonald, the 50th ’Round the Fountain Art Fair isn’t just a homecoming, it’s a coming full-circle homecoming.
MacDonald, a budding teenage artist participating in the first ’Round the Fountain Art Fair, returns Saturday as a judge for the 50th anniversary fair after more than 30 years as an accomplished, award-winning artist — both a full-time freelance illustrator and landscape painter. His paintings can be found in private, corporate and museum collections throughout North America.
In May 1974, MacDonald was 17 years old, just finishing his junior year at Central Catholic High School and had already discovered his passion — and talent — for art. After his first high school art class, he knew what he wanted to pursue in life.
“I loved to draw,” MacDonald says. “Every kid loves to draw — and I just never stopped.”
Teachers and others — from his artistically inclined family to early influences such as local artist Michael Martin and Central Catholic and Purdue art teacher Mary Yingling — recognized, encouraged and nurtured his talent, too.
“Mary Yingling was a positive force in my development as an artist, but she was hard on me, too. She was an ideal art instructor and a talented artist in her own right. We kept in touch for 20 years until her passing,” MacDonald says.
Growing up in Lafayette the son of Dick and Joey (Joanne) MacDonald, John worked at the family business, H.C. MacDonald, and Sons, a classified advertising agency, on Columbia Street in the summers between school. His talent also allowed him to earn commissions for rendering around 200 pen and ink drawings of people’s homes who still treasure the young artist’s work.
“I earned $30 (to) $40 for my commissioned pieces — good money for a high school kid,” MacDonald recalls.
In 1973, family friend and businessman Bud Baugh, of Baugh and Reser Hardware at Fifth and Columbia streets, brought back the idea for a fine arts fair around the courthouse in Madison, Wisconsin. Baugh got the support of other downtown business and community leaders to start the ’Round the Fountain Art Fair around the Tippecanoe County Courthouse square.
And it was Bud Baugh and John’s father who encouraged him to sign up for the first fair in 1974: “‘Look, just enter this,’ they said,” John recalls. And so, he did, entering and displaying his pen and ink drawings and watercolors.
“There I was, nervous and anxious, an introvert standing on the corner of the courthouse square. I was so self-conscious I never left my booth,” MacDonald said. “It was my first public exposure as an artist and my introduction to the business of art, too.”
He remembers that the first fair was “packed! Lots of traffic!” He doesn’t recall any great epiphany, but the impact of that first fair experience was one of a series of fortunate events for all that would follow.
“From there the stars aligned,” MacDonald says.
After graduating from Central Catholic High School in 1975, he attended Washington University in St. Louis on a full-ride scholarship where he received a bachelor’s of fine arts degrees in 1979. Following college, he attended a four-month intensive printmaking workshop at the Institute for American Universities in Avignon, France. After returning to the States, he received a master’s degree in drawing and painting from Purdue University in 1982. It was there he met his wife, Debbie, attending Purdue as a graduate student in Speech and Language, who also graduated in 1982.
For years, the MacDonalds have been based in the Berkshires in Williamstown, Massachusetts. “For a landscape artist the mountains are a painter’s paradise,” he said.
You can see MacDonald’s work at his website, which includes both large and small studio work, as well as a selection of plein air paintings.
An artist with the soul of an educator, MacDonald is also a certified creativity coach and conducts workshops in various locations.
“I’ve been so fortunate thanks to my experience; I teach workshops both as a sense of obligation and because I just enjoy it,” he said. “Those people want to be there. They’re so eager to learn. And these workshops are so much fun to do.”
For young aspiring artists, MacDonald offers well learned advice based his own experience: Do what you love and nurture your passion.
“Find your voice. But do what you enjoy regardless,” he said. “Without the passion, you won’t have the energy to weather the hard, lean times in the years it takes to develop your skills and vision.”
If you go: The 50th annual ’Round the Fountain Art Fair is 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, May 25, on the Tippecanoe County Courthouse square. Admission is free. For more information, go to roundthefountain.org.
Also, still in play, the ’Round the Fountain Art Fair permanent collection exhibition, typically housed in the Tippecanoe County Courthouse, is on display May 31 at The Arts Federation, 638 North St., Lafayette.
Thanks, again, to Stuart & Branigin for sponsorship help with today’s edition.
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Great Round the Fountain Art Fair story, Grant Flora! Love the photo with Bud Baugh and Wells Yeager Best Drug Store in background. Both gone, but not forgotten. —Angie Klink