INDIANAPOLIS—The Opus Group has decided to develop and construct two speculative industrial warehouse buildings totaling 924,530-square-feet at the Plainfield Business Center in suburban Plainfield. Northwestern Mutual, a Milwaukee-based life insurance company, will own the buildings. Construction on both will begin later this month.
“Indianapolis is a proven market for industrial development with historically strong and consistent absorption of industrial space,” says Douglas J. Swain, vice president and general manager at Opus Development Company, L.L.C., the project developer. “We've seen an increase in larger speculative developments in the market recently and are responding to market need by providing warehouse space in a highly desirable location and flexible size ranges.”
The deal adds to the wave of warehouse and distribution development that has hit Indiana and other Midwestern markets like Memphis and Columbus. And their central locations, access to vast interstate road networks, air cargo hubs and proximity to other major population centers should continue attracting developers for the foreseeable future.
According to Colliers, “the Indianapolis industrial market delivered more than 2.06-million-square-feet of new investment-grade industrial buildings in the first quarter of 2013, with the vast majority of new product located in the Southwest (Plainfield) and Northwest (Allpoints Anson) submarkets.” Particularly significant was the delivery of Industrial Developments International's 795,000-square-foot speculative project at Ameriplex Business Park and the Prologis/Browning Investments' 622,440-square-foot building in the AirTech Business Park. Before the latter was completed, Hartz Pet Products signed a 10-year lease for the entire building.
Opus will build its new project on 52 acres of land north of I-70 near downtown Indianapolis and the Indianapolis International Airport. It will consist of two side-by-side warehouses called Airwest 12, with a total of 448,305-square-feet, and Airwest 13, with a total of 476,225-square-feet. Both will have 36-foot clear ceilings.
Other Opus companies have developed 13 industrial buildings in the Plainfield Business Center as well as two additional build-to-suit industrial projects in the Indianapolis market totaling 6.8-million-square-feet. The firm will complete this project in spring 2014.
Opus Design Build, L.L.C. will serve as the design-builder and Opus AE Group, L.L.C. as the project architect.
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Brian J. Rogal
Brian J. Rogal is a Chicago-based freelance writer with years of experience as an investigative reporter and editor, most notably at The Chicago Reporter, where he concentrated on housing issues. He also has written extensively on alternative energy and the payments card industry for national trade publications.
