Real estate around the state.

• Author: Kaelble, Steve
• Position: Indiana

The past several months have seen a number of long-awaited real-estate plans finally come to life.

Riverboat-casino plans are shaping up in various parts of the state and ancillary real-estate developments are beginning to follow. The entry of Meijer into several Indiana retail markets, anticipated for years, happened in recent months. And in downtown Indianapolis, the Circle Centre finally is looking very much like a mall.

NORTHWEST INDIANA

No doubt the biggest development here in recent months was the awarding of Indiana's first two riverboat-casino licenses. Both winning developers will launch their boats from Gary and plan impressive shoreline support projects, and other developers are making plans to cash in on the proximity of the casinos.

Steering the first riverboat casinos will be celebrity developer Donald Trump and cable-TV entrepreneur Donald Barden. Trump Hotels and Casinos Resorts Inc. has in mind a casino/hotel complex worth more than $150 million, while Barden/PRC intends to spend close to $120 million on its project.

Both casino developers have said they hope to have ships cruising Lake Michigan by Memorial Day, but it's still undecided exactly where the boats will dock. The city of Gary has been negotiating with Lehigh Portland Cement Co. to buy some 200 acres in the Buffington Harbor area. Another possibility is property near the USX steel mill.

The Crossings of Hobart retail development along U.S. 30 near Southlake Mall is finally taking shape after lengthy delays. Financial woes of the original developer forced a halt in construction a couple of years ago after only a few retailers opened, but the project is back on track under new ownership, with new retail outlets including Service Merchandise, Value City, Shoe Carnival and Blockbuster Video. "That area is now a huge shopping area," says Stan Wolucka, manager of the commercial group at Price Realtors in Highland. "You can get anything you want there."

In Highland, Opus North Corp. last fall announced plans to build the Highland Towne Center, a 613,700-square-foot project at U.S. 41 and Main Street. Anchors are Target and Kohl's, which will move into respective spaces of 117,000 and 80,700 square feet this summer.

As for other aspects of commercial real estate, the past several months have been relatively quiet, Wolucka says, and that's news in itself. And while vacancies in certain specific sectors remain low, there has been no speculative development to speak of. "There's an adequate office inventory, but as for good retail and general commercial and industrial, there isn't enough." Though the market would seem right for some spec development, Wolucka suspects some would-be backers are nervous that interest rates will rise between the blueprint and grand-opening stages. However, he says, "the build-to-suit market is going well."

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