CHARLESTOWN, Ind. (WDRB) -- The way Dan Cristiani describes his company can also describe the land it now sits on. The 30-acre plot just off Highway 62 in Charlestown is the new home of the Dan Cristiani Legacy Complex.

"Kinda started from nothing," said Cristiani, the founder of Dan Cristiani Excavating.

With nearly 250 jobs, the company serves as an anchor for the community with the hopes of bringing even more to the area.

"Transformational growth," Charlestown Mayor Treva Hodges said Thursday. "You're gonna have places to work. You're gonna have homes. You're gonna have shops and retail and commercial, eventually, up front. And then you're gonna have a place to play too."

The 70 acres behind the complex — not far from the River Ridge Commerce Center — will become Shadow Lake Park. Donated to the city in 2022, the design for the park includes a 31,500-square-foot multi-purpose community/civic center with amenities like a sports court space for basketball, volleyball, pickleball, archery, wrestling, gymnastics and more. Other areas feature a theater/stage space, community rooms, and an indoor play area for children and indoor walking track.

Shadow Lake Park amphitheater concept

Pictured: this undated image provided by HWC Engineering shows a designer's visualization of an amphitheater that would be included as part of a 70-acre park planned for the Shadow Lake neighborhood of Charlestown, Ind. (HWC Engineering)

"Shadow Lake is uniquely positioned to feed our schools, to feed our residences, to feed our parks and playgrounds," Hodges said. "And it's also right across from the River Ridge Commerce Center, and they're growing together and they're growing in such a way that it's truly benefitting the entire community."

Just down the road two new apartment complexes are being built. And Hodges said all that housing will have a snowball effect and eventually revitalize the whole city.

"Instead of things just happening to Charlestown, Charlestown finally gets to have a voice in the process," she said Thursday.

Cristiani's jobs and the infrastructure around it, he said, will hopefully bring people to the area and keep them there, a legacy he hopes will have a lasting impact on Charlestown.

"We've got a lot of people who live here, and so they can work here and they can play here and everything is right here in one location," he said. "It's a legacy."

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