IEDC seeks to purchase 2,500 more acres in Boone County for LEAP project
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The Indiana Economic Development Corp. plans to buy more land in Boone County for the LEAP Research and Innovation District if the State Budget Committee approves its request Tuesday.
The IEDC is asking the state committee to allow it to redirect $88 million that had been approved for a previous project that hasn’t been realized and use it to acquire 2,500 acres and make infrastructure improvements in the LEAP district. The funding would be use to attract three new projects and support five others, the IEDC said.
The state’s job-creation agency said it wants to “repurpose” most of the $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. The status of that project is still unclear.
According to the hearing agenda, the committee will decide whether to repurpose $59 million to purchase about 2,500 acres of land and attract three companies to the site. The companies sought are in the advanced computing, information technology component manufacturing and biopharmaceutical manufacturing sectors.
The IEDC said in its agenda item that the three projects could result in billions of dollars of investments and about 10,000 jobs.
The land would eventually be sold to the companies, and the sale’s profit would be returned to the state’s general fund, according to the agenda item.
The IEDC also wants to repurpose $29 million from Project Nora to invest in infrastructure projects to support five projects in the LEAP district, including Eli Lilly and Co.’s 13-building manufacturing campus that is under construction. The infrastructure projects would include road and utility improvements as well as other site preparations, according to the agenda.
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.
Another IEDC request on the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting is for $5 million from the state deal-closing fund for a performance grant for Oregon-based battery manufacturer Entek’s $1.5 billion Terre Haute manufacturing campus. It also is seeking $5.75 million from the deal-closing fund for three rural manufacturing projects around the state that could result in more than 700 new jobs.
The budget committee meeting will convene at 9 a.m. Tuesday at the Indiana Statehouse.