The IEDC hears the case to expand the LEAP district in Boone County. Photo provided
The Indiana Economic Development Corp. received the financial green light Tuesday afternoon to buy 1,400 more acres of land in Boone County for the LEAP Lebanon Innovation District after the State Budget Committee approved its request.
The IEDC asked the state committee to redirect a total of $88 million previously approved for a project that hasn’t been realized. Plans call for the funding to be used to attract three new major projects and support five others, the IEDC said. The companies sought are in the advanced computing, information technology component manufacturing and biopharmaceutical manufacturing sectors.
Mark Wasky, IEDC senior vice president and special counsel to the secretary of commerce, said the IEDC has “strong confidence” in its ongoing discussions about the district and anticipates movement in the coming months. Eli Lilly and Co.’s 13-building, $9 billion manufacturing campus is the only publicly announced project in the district thus far.
Of the total requested, the agency will use $59 million for the acquisition of 1,400 additional acres and the purchase of 1,100 contracted acres, totaling 2,500 acres. It expects to lure three more projects to the district and is hopeful those could result in billions of dollars of investments and about 10,000 new jobs. The land would eventually be sold to the companies, and the sale’s profit would be returned to the state’s general fund.
The other $29 million will be funneled toward LEAP district infrastructure improvements, including roadwork, utility improvements and other site preparations. The investment will prep sites for five companies, including Eli Lilly.
About 9,000 acres near Interstate 65 have already been secured by the state in Lebanon and Boone County for the LEAP district. LEAP stands for Limitless Exploration Advanced Pace.
“It’s part of a very specific strategy that we have to try and bring pretty transformative projects to the state of Indiana, and as it gets on, our expectation would be, as those options are sold, we would then be able to utilize the sale proceeds to continue this activity throughout the state,” Wasky said.
Several Democrats questioned the three IEDC officials in attendance at length regarding the expansion’s need and price tag.
Rep. Ed Delaney, D-Indianapolis, a non-voting alternate to the budget committee, asked why the state job creation agency is expanding the project’s footprint while a study of the district’s water needs is yet to be completed.
Sen. Fady Qaddoura, D-Indianapolis, also an alternate to the budget committee, said he was concerned regarding the vagueness of the expansion’s potential tax packages and the feasibility of the corporation’s added investment and job creation forecast.
No motion was introduced to remove the item from the agenda or stop its subsequent approval. However, committee member Rep. Greg Porter, D-Indianapolis, abstained from voting on the day’s agenda.
“I’ve never heard of a voting member abstaining from a vote on a State Budget Committee agenda. But I felt like I had to be the first one to abstain today,” said Porter, one of two Democrats on the five-member committee, in written remarks. “I couldn’t move myself to vote for the agenda when I have no clue what I’m investing in. We’ve given the IEDC billions of state dollars for projects, but they’ve shared no information. We don’t know the investors, and we don’t have answers on the utility situation. There’s no proof of return-on-investment in this project. We have absolutely no clue what’s going on with the LEAP district. There’s a lack of transparency and repurposing taxpayer dollars to the budget committee is reprehensible.”
Other Democrats said in closing remarks they were concerned about whether the committee is capable of vetting and approving these types of decisions moving forward.
“I don’t believe this organization, the state budget committee, is up into dealing with something as ever-changing and complex as what goes on with IEDC,” Delaney said. “ We’re not supervising them. We’re not finding the information.”
The $88 million in funds were “repurposed” from $100 million originally approved for Project Nora in December. Few details have been disclosed about Project Nora, but it involved a performance-based incentive for a company that could have invested $4.1 billion and created 2,700 jobs in the advanced manufacturing sector. Wasky said the project is not dead, but industry changes have paused the company’s decision to commit to the site.
The IEDC also received approval to disperse performance-based grants for four projects, including $5 million for Oregon-based battery manufacturer Entek’s $1.5 billion Terre Haute manufacturing campus. The other three companies—including Toyota’s $1.4 billion Princeton campus, North Carolina-based Nucor Corp’s $115 million Crawfordsville facility and an unannounced Project Trail in northeast Indiana—are grouped together in a package totaling $5.75 million. The three investments could create 700 new jobs, the IEDC said.
By Cate Charron, Indianapolis Business Journal
