East central Indiana: the region's top business stories.

• Author: Mayer, Kathy
• Position: REGIONAL REPORT: EAST CENTRAL

NEW GAMING, THREE new ethanol plants, growth in manufacturing and education, and other developments underway are all contributing to east-central Indiana's economic health. That's the assessment reported by community leaders in Blackford, Delaware, Grant, Jay and Madison counties.

Hoosier Park expands. All bets are on success for Anderson's Hoosier Park Racing & Casino, which recently spent $100 million to build its first casino, add nine restaurants and bars and renovate other space. The 92,000-square-foot, one-story casino opened in June. Adding it--and its 2,000 electronic gaming machines--to the horseracing track brings 600 new jobs to town.

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Open around the clock, the casino is expected to help draw 3 million visitors a year to Hoosier Park, where races are held from April through November and simulcast wagering offered year round. The new bars and restaurants include Double R Bar, Big Deli, Prime Harvest Buffet, Johnny Rockets, and coming soon, Homestretch Steakhouse.

Corn is king. Long an agriculturally rich area, the agribusiness sector is getting a boost with three ethanol plants now online. Two are POET Biofuels operations, each to use 22 million bushels of corn annually to produce 65 million gallons of ethanol. The $105 million plant near Portland started production last October and employs 45. The company held a grand opening ceremony in April for the $115 million POET Biorefining--Alexandria plant, which employs 42. The Madison County plant will also produce 178,000 tons of distillers products annually

Marion's Central Indiana Ethanol plant began production last September, says Timothy Eckerle, executive director of the Grant County Economic Development Growth Council. It employs 37 and will produce about 50 million gallons each year.

Corn is important in Muncie, too, where Al Pete Meats Inc. is spending $730,000 on new equipment and property improvements to add a corn dog line, reports Gary Porter, office assistant at the Muncie Delaware County Chamber of Commerce. The meat processor and packager is more than doubling employment, adding 20 to a workforce of 17. "This project is the start of a merger and acquisition of the company by Monogram Foods Inc. out of Memphis," Porter says.

Another corn user is Tyson Foods Mexican Original Plant in Portland, which makes corn and flour tortilla products, is investing $3.2 million on equipment for a new line and increasing employment from 385 to 400, says Bill...