Council OKs annexation of nearly 640 acres for LEAP District
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The Lebanon City Council on Tuesday night unanimously voted to approve the voluntary annexation of nearly 640 acres of land in Boone County for the LEAP Lebanon Innovation and Research District, a planned technology and advanced manufacturing hub of 9,000 acres or more.
The city council voted 7-0 to approve the annexation of 41 parcels of land totaling 638 acres. Two parcels totaling about four acres that were originally part of the annexation plan were pulled from the city council’s agenda.
Scott Alexander, an attorney for the Indiana Economic Development Corp., the state agency leading the development of the LEAP District, said last month the IEDC has secured more than 90% of the parcels needed to complete the district. LEAP is short for Limitless Exploration/Advanced Pace.
Since July 2022, the city has annexed a total of about 7,840 acres for the project.
State officials have said that the district’s close proximity to a major interstate, Purdue University and the city of Indianapolis made it the ideal choice for a high-tech manufacturing district.
Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Co. will serve as the anchor tenant for the district. The pharmaceutical giant is investing $3.7 billion in a manufacturing site that will result in an estimated 700 new jobs.
The IEDC has said that numerous companies are considering major investments in the tech hub. Indiana is one of two Midwestern states competing for a potential $50 billion semiconductor plant, and the state is also courting a $3.2 billion data center project, according to the IEDC.
Subaru CEO Atsushi Osaki recently told reporters during a meeting in Tokyo that Indiana could become the next location of an electric vehicle production site, although he did not say where in the state it would be located.
IBJ reporter Peter Blanchard contributed to this report.