Install massive tents for tool lockers
BP's investment — the largest in state history — employed as many as 14,000 skilled craftsman at its peak, including many from out of state. There were so many workers that BP had to lease parking lots from neighboring ArcelorMittal and install massive tents for tool lockers and lunch breaks.
Dave Ryan, Lakeshore Chamber of Commerce executive director, said the project saved the region.
But nothing lasts forever. The work is done, and the refinery on Lake Michigan's southern shore is now processing 80 percent sour, high-sulfur crude.
The region's construction workers aren't completely out of luck. Commercial construction has rebounded to pre-recession levels. Six major industrial developments totaling 872,195 square feet are currently underway, marking the most construction activity since 2008, according to a recent NAI Hiffman report.
Retail also has been taking off, with most of the stores at the $112 million Shops on Main shopping center in Schererville opening, a Whole Foods under construction, and the Galleria lifestyle center planned at the 109th Avenue and Interstate 65 interchange in Crown Point.
But the BP Whiting project was the biggest in Indiana's 198-year history, and its end has been felt. Northwest Indiana lost 2,800 jobs in the construction industry this year, largely because the refinery project wound down and last winter's polar vortex shut down work sites for a few months, Indiana University Northwest Assistant Professor of Economics Micah Pollak said.