Central Indiana update.

• Author: Beck, Bill
• Position: Economic development projects

For the eight-county region of Central Indiana, it might have seemed like nothing could top the 1991 announcement that United Airlines intended to build its Maintenance Operations Center at Indianapolis International Airport.

"United Airlines is the largest economic-development project in the United States," is the way Morton Marcus, head of the Indiana Business Research Center at the Indiana University School of Business, sums it up.

Still, even though the politicians had us half convinced that 1992 was the nadir of a particularly vicious recession, Central Indiana had its share of economic-development successes during the year.

MARION COUNTY

Indianapolis International Airport continues to be the focus of economic development in Central Indiana. United Airlines broke ground on its maintenance center in August, and 2,000 to 2,500 construction workers are expected to be employed on the project before its completion.

USAir increased its number of flights by 40 percent during the year--to 150 a day--and the U.S. Postal Service Eagle Air Hub was completed on time, although litigation over the federal bidding process has delayed the facility's opening.

Early this year, Federal Express continued the trend for expansion at the Indianapolis airport when it announced that it was beginning a $30 million expansion of its facilities here. The Memphis-based air-express firm has an option on an additional 100 acres at the airport, and its phased expansion in Indianapolis could result in tripling the company's 1,000-person Indianapolis work force by early in the next century.

"The future growth of the company will occur here," says Dennis Rosebrough of the Indianapolis Airport Authority. "Basically, they ran out of room in Memphis."

Rosebrough adds that Indianapolis, now the 12th-largest cargo airport in the country, isn't resting on its laurels. The Airport Authority will break ground on a new 11,200-foot runway this fall, replacing an existing 10,000-foot runway, which will in turn free up an area for the airport's new Midfield Terminal.

Elsewhere in Indianapolis, key industries continue to expand their facilities. Carrier Corp., the big heating and air conditioning manufacturer, consolidated several of its facilities around the country into a major expansion of the Indianapolis facility. Ford Motor Co. announced a $450 million upgrade of its English Avenue plant, and Hooks SuperX broke ground on a major expansion of its eastside Indianapolis distribution warehouse.

According to Tim Monger of the Indianapolis Economic Development Corp., the North American Free Trade Agreement is attracting...