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

• Author: Mayer, Kathy
• Position: REGIONAL REPORT EAST CENTRAL - Hartford Energy Corp.

We look at significant economic activity for Blackford, Delaware, Grant, Jay and Madison counties.

Corn power. POET Biofuels is building two plants. The first, to open this fall, will be near Portland and employ about 40, says Ami Huffman, director of community development for Jay County Development Corp. It will tap 21 million bushels of corn annually to produce about 60 million gallons of ethanol.

POET's second site is Alexandria, where a $120 million plant will also employ about 40 when it opens in spring 2008, says Tonia Simpson at Madison County's Corporation for Economic Development.

EPOCO, a carbon dioxide manufacturing plant that will employ 40, is under construction in Marion, with plans to begin operations in the third quarter this year, says Timothy Eckerle, executive director of the Grant County Economic Development Growth Council. "They are taking carbon dioxide, a byproduct from ethanol, and using it for industrial processing applications, bringing it to other markets."

In Hartford, Hartford Energy "is just starting to dig" at its ethanol plant site, says Dax Norton, executive director of the Blackford County Economic Development Corp. "It will take about 18 months to completion. They'll employ 30 to 40."

In Delaware County, just outside Muncie, Muncie Ethanol Holdings is slated to break ground in July on a $165 million plant that will employ about 65, says Terry Murphy, vice president for economic development at the Muncie Delaware Economic Development Alliance.

Doing paperwork. Service--and lots of paperwork is the product at two new facilities, both operated by IBM Corp. partnerships.

IBM, Phoenix Technologies and ACS, which landed a 10-year, $1 billion contract for Medicaid eligibility determinations, is remodeling a shuttered middle school for a 200-person office in Marion. It's slated to open in the third quarter.

In Daleville, a 500-person IBM office will open in October; it's a $3 million investment by IBM.

Last October, nearby Muncie welcomed an $11 million investment by Sallie Mae, which occupies a 54,000-square-foot facility and now employs 675 who work on collecting accounts that are late, but not yet in default.

Food for people, pets, Two food and beverage plants are making headlines in Madison County.

Red Gold has completed a $16 million expansion and is adding another 60 jobs at its Elwood plant, boosting employment to 1,250. The long-time Indiana company produces a variety of tomato products.

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