South-Central Indiana update.

• Author: Mayer, Kathy
• Position: Top Business Stories

MONROE COUNTY

Life-sciences is the hot topic in Bloomington and Monroe County, with Cook Group Inc. and Baxter Healthcare Corp. giving the local economy a boost, reports Linda Williamson, executive director of the Bloomington Economic Development Corp.

Cook, a Bloomington medical products company employing more than 1,700, has settled into its million-square-foot world headquarters, and an acquisition by Indianapolis-based Guidant Corp. is pending. But that potential ownership change won't affect expected growth, Williamson predicts. "They're adding 125 employees. And we expect continued growth with or without Guidant." It won't mean expanded space, though, since the company, the area's second-largest industrial employer, currently operates just one shift.

Baxter Healthcare, also in Bloomington, is spending $10 million on an expansion at its pharmaceutical plant, with plans to boost today's 400 employees to 500.

Two smaller Bloomington companies also are expanding: Tree of Life, a health-food distributor, is spending $1.5 million on an addition and increasing employment from 290 to 315; and Tasus Corp., which makes plastic automotive parts, is spending $7 million on an addition and increasing employing from 120 to 150.

Bloomington's General Electric plant, which had cut employment from 3,200 to 1,600 when it lost production of one of its refrigerator lines, is back up to 1,850 and remains the county's largest industrial employer. "They hired back. Sales have been strong," Williamson notes.

The county's third-largest industrial employer is Hallmark/Inter-At, employing 650 at its greeting-card plant.

BARTHOLOMEW COUNTY

Despite last fall's groundbreaking ceremony, no construction has occurred at the site for the county's highly touted Columbus Learning Center, a $34 million educational facility that was to have opened by mid-2003. "We did have a groundbreaking in anticipation of construction," reports Randy Tucker, senior consultant for the learning center. "We're in a holding pattern, waiting for state revenues."

The center is to link the Indiana University-Purdue University Columbus campus and Ivy Tech State College. Owned by the city and managed and operated by a non-profit organization, the center will house 20 classrooms, conference rooms, a 210-seat auditorium, professional development labs, tutoring rooms and small group study rooms.

Brooke Tuttle, president of the Columbus Economic Development Board, reports three newcomers to...