Construction workers put up walls for a spec building at Ameriplex at the Crossroads. Staff photo by Connor Burge
MERRILLVILLE — As construction concludes for one facility in AmeriPlex at the Crossroads, work is underway for others.
Crow Holdings Industrial recently finished constructing a building that houses Midwest Truck & Auto Parts, Quality Pasta and Precision Turbo/Turbonetics in the business park along Broadway and south of 93rd Avenue.
The building is larger than 270,000 square feet, and Crow Holdings is in the midst of constructing another facility of similar size also in AmeriPlex.
“If the tenants keep wanting to come down here, we’ll keep building,” said Jack Rabenn, of Crow Holdings Industrial.
He said the latest building is expected to be finished by March 1, and Crow Holdings is identifying a tenant for the facility.
“The activity has been very strong,” Rabenn said. “We want to keep building down in Merrillville.”
As the Town Council has done with other projects in AmeriPlex, it recently authorized 10-year tax abatement for the Crow Holdings spec facility.
Councilman Shawn Pettit said the incentive is identical to what was granted for Crow Holdings’ other building in the business park.
“I can’t say enough about what you guys have done in town,” Pettit said to Rabenn.
Crow Holdings isn’t the only developer building in AmeriPlex.
Domino’s Pizza is investing more than $50 million for a new supply chain center there.
“There’s a crane up in the air, and they’re putting up walls at Domino’s,” Pettit said. “The precast walls are going up at Domino’s, pretty impressive.”
Domino’s plans to create up to 140 new jobs by the end of 2023 for the center, which will have a main purpose of producing fresh dough balls.
The Missner Group also controls about 71 acres in the AmeriPlex area, and it is planning a major project there.
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Eddie Adler, of Missner, said the plan is to build multiple speculative industrial facilities. It hasn’t been determined how many buildings will be constructed, but in total, the facilities will have more than 1 million square feet of space.
Adler said construction is expected to start next year and it will occur in phases.
The strong interest in AmeriPlex comes while Amazon in August opened its 141,000-square-foot delivery station there.
Amazon invested more than $30 million in land, building and equipment for the delivery station built on a 35-acre parcel in AmeriPlex.
The development occurring and in the works in AmeriPlex, the town’s Plan Commission and Redevelopment Commission met in a workshop Dec. 21 to discuss infrastructure needs in the business park.
Pettit has said Merrillville is collaborating with the City of Crown Point on a joint effort to have the Indiana Department of Transportation “fix Broadway from U.S. 30 all the way down to (U.S.) 231.”
He also said the town is reviewing the possibility of adding traffic signals on 93rd Avenue.
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