A developing story: an update on major commercial real estate developments and construction projects across the state.

• Author: Held, Shari
• Position: REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION

J.R. GAYLOR, PRESIDENT and CEO for the Association of Builders Contractors in Indianapolis, says construction in the commercial and industrial sectors has remained fairly strong throughout most of Indiana this year. That's the good news.

"What I hear most from our contractors is that backlog is down quite a bit compared to last year," he says. "That's the worry. We've also seen some contractors and owners put their projects on hold, even when they had the contract and were ready to start construction."

Despite a discouraging economic outlook, there is still plenty of construction and development taking place in Indiana. Here's a look at some recently completed projects and upcoming projects around the state.

Southern indiana,

"Things are busy in Evansville," says Ken Newcomb, president of E C. Tucker Commercial. "Office activity in Evansville is slowly increasing, and we are seeing a lot of activity in the industrial market. Plus, there is a lot of new construction. Downtown Main Street is seeing more construction now than it has seen in 50 years."

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One of the biggest and most anticipated new construction projects is a new indoor stadium. It is still in the planning stages, and final details won't be released until December, but it will likely be a 10,000- to 12,000-seat facility

"That will really put the icing on the cake, so to speak, for our downtown," Newcomb says.

He also cites a mixed-use retail development on 218 acres near Burkhardt Road that will impact the entire east side of the city. In development by The Martin Group in Evansville, the infrastructure should be completed by end of next summer and lots are being pre-sold.

Industrial Contractors in Evansville just finished work on the $20 million, 90,000-square-foot Ridgway University Center at the University of Evansville, and is currently working on a 170,000-square-foot addition to a financial services headquarters building in downtown Evansville.

Business for Industrial Contractors, and its three affiliated companies whose fiscal year ends September 30, was down about five percent this year according to Alan Braun, CEO and owner of Industrial Contractors. "Last year we did about $370 million, and this year we will probably be closer to $350 million," he says. "Based on our bookings we project we will do $400 million next year, but we don't know how the economy is going to affect us. We've already had several jobs delayed."

Upcoming jobs include work on the two ethanol plants in the Mount Vernon area--Abengoa Bioenergy and Aventine Renewable Energy Inc.

"We are seeing that commercial and light manufacturing is down, and power and energy-related business is up," Braun says. "We also see some hospital work coming up this year. Deaconess is going to do an addition to their hospital and then there is construction on a pretty large hospital over in Owensboro Kentucky: And the work with schools is starting to come back."

Central Indiana. Larry Roan, vice president of business development, says F.A. Wilhelm has had a lot of work in the higher education sector recently. The company recently finished the 140,000-square-foot Simon Hall, a $50 million research building at IU Bloomington, and is working on another research building, the $50 million, 65,000-square-foot Multidisciplinary Science Phase II. On the IUPUI campus, work is progressing on the $83.3 million IU School of Medicine Research III facility, a 254,000-square-foot research building. Roan notes that IU...