INDIANAPOLIS—This city has become one of the national hubs forbulk distribution, and the resulting flurry of industrialdevelopment shows no sign of abating. The SunbeamDevelopment Corporation, for example, has just purchasedthe I-70 West Commerce Park in suburban Monroviaand plans to construct a 525,000-square-foot industrial building ona speculative basis at the site. As the developer and owner ofExit 5 in Fishers, which consists of over 1,000acres and nearly 3-million-square-feet, the company already has agreat deal of development experience in the metropolitan region.

“They came to us about one year ago and said they wanted to doeven more business in Indiana,” says Patrick B.Lindley, senior managing director, principal, with theIndianapolis office of Cassidy Turley, which willcontinue as the exclusive marketing agent for the park. The sitealready has a Johnson & Johnson distributioncenter with more that 1-million-square-feet and a545,010-square-foot Gordmans distribution centercurrently under construction. Sunbeam plans to build “a modern bulkdistribution building; it might come out of the ground this fall orno later than this spring.”

The deal adds to the wave of warehouse anddistribution development that has hit Indianapolis and otherMidwestern markets like Memphis and Columbus. Their centrallocations, access to vast interstate road networks, air cargo hubsand proximity to other major population centers should continueattracting developers for the foreseeable future.