Airbnb’s Top Indiana Cities Revealed

In late 2017, Indianapolis was identified as a top trending American city for Airbnb. The company also announced that Indiana hosts welcomed approximately 175,000 arrivals in the past year – earning more than $20.7 million.

The 175,000 guest arrivals to Indiana via Airbnb represents 108% year-over-year growth. This comes as “Hoosiers increasingly embrace the home sharing platform as an opportunity to earn supplemental income and make ends meet.” There are now just under 3,600 Indiana hosts who share their homes via Airbnb, 37% of whom simply share an extra, unused room (i.e. empty nester).

The top Airbnb markets in Indiana in 2017:

  1. Indianapolis: 73,000 guest arrivals; $8.42 million in host income
  2. South Bend: 20,000; $2.89 million
  3. Bloomington: 16,800; $1.87 million
  4. Michigan City: 5,700; $867,300
  5. Fort Wayne: 4,250; $437,900
  6. West Lafayette: 3,050; $311,350
  7. Lafayette: 3,050; $383,500
  8. Nashville: 1,950; $207,700
  9. Fishers: 1,800; $200,600
  10. Evansville: 1,670; $163,700

Lunch with Brinegar: The Tour Continues

Indiana Chamber President Kevin Brinegar is once again hitting the road as part of the statewide Lunch with Brinegar series. He will travel across the state to present information to members about major policy issues and the 2012 election. You will also learn more about Chamber offerings to ensure you are receiving the full return on your investment.

The tour kicked off May 16 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with subsequent stops in Fort Wayne and Valparaiso. Joining Brinegar is Tim Brewer, Chamber vice president of membership, with details on products and services available to you as members of the state’s largest broad-based business association.

Upcoming dates:

August 2 – West Lafayette at Purdue University, Ross-Ade Pavilion
August 16 – South Bend at the University of Notre Dame, McKenna Hall
August 28 – Evansville at the University of Evansville, William L. Ridgway University Center, Eykamp Hall

Each event runs from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. local time. The luncheons are free to Chamber members and $25 for non-members. Register for any of the luncheons online.

Bowen Engineering Founder to Teach at Purdue

Having interviewed Bob Bowen for a BizVoice article in the past, I can vouch for the fact that it rarely takes him long to bring up his passion for Purdue University. (Funny, during the conversation, I conveniently neglected to mention the four years I spent in Bloomington.) Now, the founder of Bowen Engineering Corporation, a thriving central Indiana company that has many Boilers on staff, will parlay his passion for Purdue into helping a new generation of graduates:

Robert Bowen, founder and chairman of Bowen Engineering Corp., is the first Hancher Distinguished Fellow, teaching a class in construction engineering and management at Purdue University this fall.

Donn Hancher was one of the founding faculty members of the College of Engineering’s Division of Construction Engineering and Management. He earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees in civil engineering at Purdue and was a faculty member for 16 years.

The teaching fellowship will be funded by an endowment set up by engineering alumni, including Bowen.

While fundraising for the endowment is still under way, Bowen is volunteering his time to teach during the fall semester. His class, "Leadership and Advanced Project Management," focuses on the technical challenges of the construction industry and the managerial decisions needed to keep a project moving forward.

"Donn Hancher and Bob Bowen have something key in common: They both are passionate about the success of Purdue’s CEM program and its students," said Mark Hastak, head of construction engineering and management.

When fully funded, the Hancher fellowship will be a renewable, three-to-five-year teaching appointment, Hastak said. The idea is to find professionals who are willing to share their experience and knowledge with future leaders in the industry.

"CEM has been searching for ways to involve industry leaders in the classroom, and the Hancher Distinguished Fellow is perfect," Hastak said.

The classes will involve more than war stories, he added. "The Hancher Fellow will push our students to a better understanding of the challenges they will face and the skills they will need."

Packing a Punch at Purdue

Purdue University doesn’t need me to make the case for its importance to the state of Indiana and beyond. It has thousands of professors, students, research leaders, and business men and women doing that every day.

But despite at least three-plus decades of personal experience (starting with a cousin who graduated from the university and still serves on the faculty in the veterinary medicine school to more than a few athletic contests, including covering the top-ranked basketball team in 1987-88), a half-day on campus earlier this month reinforced the impact being made in West Lafayette and throughout the state.

Just a few observations:

  • Discovery Park is a nice name with a clear mission. Behind the name are five leading centers, all opening between 2004 and 2009 and featuring $205 million in private donations, bringing together experts from a variety of disciplines who are working together on our future. The learning opportunities for students are nearly endless.
  • Purdue Research Parks: There is the largest gathering of technology companies in the state in West Lafayette and growing enterprises in Merrillville, New Albany and Indianapolis (AmeriPlex complex near the airport).
  • The Technical Assistance Program has been working with Indiana companies for 24 years. It drives immediate improvements in companies, training employees, increasing sales and retaining/creating jobs. And now it is doing so in the manufacturing, energy, health care and green sectors, among others.
  • And while others might come to mind first when thinking about education, Purdue’s I-STEM Resource Network and role as one of four homes for the Woodrow Wilson Indiana Teaching Fellowship program are critical. I-STEM is a partnership that includes 19 institutions, K-12 schools, business and government with the bottom line of improving outcomes for students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics studies.

One of my absolute favorite people in 12-plus years in this position was former Purdue President Martin Jischke. He was the driving force behind most of the entities mentioned above, as well as numerous others. Today’s leaders and practitioners are carrying the ball forward.

We’ll continue to help tell the Purdue stories in the months and years ahead. It was good to be reminded about the excellent work taking place there during the recent visit.

And will the 2010-2011 basketball triplets (Hummel, Moore and Johnson) equal or exceed the exploits of Troy Lewis, Todd Mitchell and Everette Stephens from 23 years ago? We’ll have to wait and see on that one.

Córdova: Purdue Grads Thrive Globally

Purdue’s France Córdova explains what’s so great about being a Boilermaker:

  • Tell us something that not enough people know about your college or university that makes it such a special place.

Three points come to mind immediately. First, the Purdue brand is a global one; Purdue’s star shines brightly no matter how far one travels from Indiana. As president I have had the opportunity to meet alumni across the globe, and I’ve seen that Purdue graduates are highly successful leaders in business, government, education, and cultural and civic affairs worldwide. Their contributions have been transformational. This makes Purdue special—its graduates have traveled as far as the Moon, and made an impact wherever they have landed.

Second, Purdue focuses on its students. Purdue is a large university, but its colleges, residence halls, and student organizations allow students to enjoy the benefits of a large university and, at the same time, feel the closeness of a smaller institution. Alumni tell me that what they remember most about their Purdue years is that faculty, staff and friends encouraged and challenged them, and would not let them fail. When they graduated, they had confidence and knew they could compete with anyone. 

As Purdue enters a new decade, we are implementing a strategic plan that is focused on launching our students to be tomorrow’s leaders. We are examining the entire learning experience, beginning with admissions standards to ensure proper preparation, thematic learning communities, and orientation programs to build social networks and enhance retention. We have developed technology that alerts students if their grades are slipping so that they can modify behaviors before it’s too late. We are also expanding our scholarship program, with a blend of need-based and merit-based awards. We give our students the skills, experiences and high-quality education to become leaders, scholars, entrepreneurs, and well-informed citizens.

Finally, we connect our students to Purdue’s storied past. Our alumni have remained close to their alma mater, and they help our students both enjoy the college experience and reach for big goals, just as they did. We connect our present and past students through our many traditions. First-year freshman or 40-year alumnus, we are all Boilermakers.

Hail Purdue! 

Tomorrow: Indiana State’s Daniel J. Bradley

Muncie Ranks 2nd Nationally in College Town Affordability

If you want to live in a college town without breaking the bank, you might give Charlie Cardinal a call. Coldwell Banker released its Annual College Town Home Price Affordability Index and Muncie ranked second for the second consecutive year:

For the second year in a row, Muncie, Indiana (home of Ball State University) ranked 2nd in the nation in Coldwell Banker’s “Annual College Town Home Price Affordability Index.” Every fall, college football fans feel nostalgic for the tradition, lifestyle and spirit of their college towns as they cheer on their favorite teams. This year’s Coldwell Banker College Home Price Affordability Index comparison reveals that these school-centric areas also sport very affordable homes, in addition to the culture and economic stability associated with institutions of higher education – making them great areas in which to purchase real estate.

The 2009 Annual College Town Home Price Affordability Index released by Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC provides an apples-to-apples comparison of similarly sized 2,200 SF, four-bedroom, two-and-one-a-half bathroom rooms in college markets home to the 120 Football Bowl Subdivision Schools. This year, Akron, Ohio (University of Akron) is ranked as the most affordable college town, where a typical four-bedroom home costs $121,885. Muncie, Indiana (Ball State University) took the No. 2 spot for the second consecutive year at $144,996. Ranked No. 3 was Ann Arbor, Michigan (University of Michigan) with a home price average of $148,000.

Other Indiana Division I-A Football School college towns were ranked as follows:

  • 9th Bloomington Indiana University $164,433
  • 23rd South Bend University of Notre Dame $183,938
  • 29th West Lafayette Purdue University $189,000

The top three “most expensive” college towns for the typical 2,200 SF four-bedroom home are Palo Alto, California (Stanford University) at $1,489,726; Los Angeles, California (UCLA and USC) at $1,347,125; and Boston/Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts (Boston College) at $1,337,578. The top ranked “most affordable” conference in the College Town Home Price Affordability Index is the Mid American Conference with a average price of $182,322. Ball State is a member of the MAC Conference. The most expensive conference according to Index is the PAC-10 with a $747,180 average. The PAC-10 features a number of west coast schools as members.