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BROWNSBURG, IN-Lauth Property Group has closed on a 55-acre site just west of State Road 267, along Northfield Road, in this growing town about 10 miles northwest of Indianapolis. The Indianapolis-based company plans to erect Brownsburg Station, a 480,000-sf shopping center with several large anchors. The project, which has been site-plan approved, is slated for completion in October 2007.

The new development is good news for residents of Brownsburg, who historically have had to travel to Indianapolis or inner-ring suburbs to shop or dine at restaurants, Todd Barker, the town's planning director, tells GlobeSt.com. The center also is expected to serve shoppers from outside the community. "It will definitely draw from communities west of us along Interstate 74 that have had to travel even farther than we did for those services," Barker says. He points to the Wal-Mart SuperCenter at 400 W. Northfield Dr. as an example of retail that pulled shoppers from other towns when it first opened a decade ago.

Larry Evinger, vice president of retail development for Lauth, calls the project an opportunity to bring retail to an "underserved" trade area. According to Lauth, nearly 100,000 people live within seven miles of the project site. The average household income in that area was $89,405 in 2005.