Park place.

• Author: Dunlap, Phil
• Position: Summit Industrial Park in Indiana

Why pick a site in a business park rather than a cornfield?

Dick Gehlert, vice president and co-owner of Cadillac Coffee Co. in Fort Wayne, prefers his coffee black, no sugar and no bullets. Hence the relocation of Cadillac Coffee Co. to a business park in Indiana.

"We wanted to find a location which would give a good quality of life," Gehlert says. "Our plant in Detroit was in a high-crime area. It was dirty, and not a comfortable place to work. At times people would shoot through our building, and we were continually patching up holes in the cyclone tanks that move our coffee around."

When the company moved to Fort Wayne, he says, a park-like setting was a strong attraction. "I wanted to have a park I could enjoy, have a nice pond, have a walking path, enjoy it at lunch time. That's what we got," he says, when Cadillac Coffee chose the city's Summit Industrial Park.

Fortunately, not every company must escape inner-city bullet holes. For a myriad of reasons, business parks have increased in popularity each year, and developers are going to great lengths to attract tenants by featuring desirable, park-like atmospheres. The lure of business parks goes well beyond aesthetics.

One characteristic a park must have if it hopes to entice tenants is a plan to carry it well into the future. Cadillac Coffee Co. was the first tenant in Summit Industrial Park, which opened in 1987. "Summit has always been touted as an example of how to do it - doing it correctly, with foresight and a good location," says James Lindsay, a staff member of the Fort Wayne Redevelopment Commission, the original developer of the property.

Along with solid planning and a desirable site, what are other positive characteristics companies may require in a business park? "The bigger companies in particular are looking for a site that's ready to go, so they can break ground as soon as they close on it," says Roger Koehlinger, broker associate with Goldstine Knapke Co. in Fort Wayne. "They don't want to have to wait six months down the road."

Business park concepts can vary widely. Some may be standard in design, while others may target specific tenants. One such project is the 82.5-acre Bloomington Technology Park in Bloomington, near the intersection of state roads 37 and 45. Because the park is adjacent to the site occupied by Otis Elevator Co., the first building (now under construction) was designed to attract Otis suppliers. The building will feature 24-foot-minimum clear...