Western Hancock County is in the middle of a building boom for warehouse and industrial space, with millions of square feet already under roof or proposed. Developers are building many of them on speculation that tenants will snap up the space. (Tom Russo | Daily Reporter)
Western Hancock County is in the middle of a building boom for warehouse and industrial space, with millions of square feet already under roof or proposed. Developers are building many of them on speculation that tenants will snap up the space. (Tom Russo | Daily Reporter)
At a glance

Opus Development

  • 600,000 square feet
  • East of County Road 700W, south of 300N

Becknell Industrial

  • 950,000 square feet
  • East of Mt. Comfort Road, north of Indianapolis Regional Airport
HANCOCK COUNTY — Developers are planning two more large move-in-ready buildings in the western part of the county.

The Indiana companies’ projects will bring multi-million-dollar investments and more than 1.5 million square feet of facility space. They also continue a sense of confidence in the region that occupants will quickly be secured for logistical, warehousing or industrial purposes.

Indianapolis-based Opus Development is planning a speculative building of about 600,000 square feet on about 83 acres east of County Road 700W and south of 300N. The development is estimated to cost $21 million, according to filings with the county.

Opus Development is already building an 862,000-square foot facility in that area. According the company’s website, it’s slated for completion in August and will be used by a tenant to consolidate employees and operations from two existing buildings.

The developer has plans for another speculative building in that area as well. Nick Weber, a consultant assisting with the project, told Hancock County Council members earlier this month that Opus Development will have a total of at least three buildings in the area.

Exact details on the latter two remain to be determined, Weber said.

“This is really following the market,” he said. “If there’s demand, the first building gets taken up, you move into the next building process.”

The county council unanimously approved a 10-year property tax abatement for Opus Development’s latest proposed building, as it has for speculative building proposals over the past couple years. According to the terms of the abatement, the company pays no property taxes for the building’s first year of existence, then gradually pays a growing proportion of its obligation over the years until taxes are fully phased in by the time the decade’s up.

Carmel-based Becknell Industrial is planning a speculative building of about 950,000 square feet east of Mt. Comfort Road and north of Indianapolis Regional Airport. Larry Siegler of The Peterson Company, assisting with the project, said the site is south of the large fulfillment center Walmart is developing.

“What is that land best suited for?” Siegler rhetorically asked county council members. “Well, it’s so close to the airport; you don’t want to have retail, you don’t want to have residential. It’s good farm ground, or good development ground for industrial.”

It will be one of multiple Becknell Industrial projects in Hancock County over the past several years, including Spectra Premium’s building near Mt. Comfort Road and County Road 300N and an Amazon building near County Roads 700W and 200N. The company is also planning two other speculative buildings north of the airport off the east side of Mt. Comfort Road.

Siegler said the latest project will bring Becknell Industrial’s overall investment in the county to more than $100 million.

And 2.5 million square feet of building space, added Derek Hawkins of Becknell Industrial.

“We continue to love to grow our asset base here,” the senior vice president of development said.

The county council will consider a property tax abatement for Becknell Industrial’s latest project during its upcoming meeting at 8:45 a.m. Wednesday, April 14, in the Commissioners Courtroom, Room 101, Hancock County Annex, 111 American Legion Place, Greenfield.
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