Southeast Indiana Update.

• Author: MAYER, KATHY
• Position: Brief Article

The $200 million Belterra Casino Resort near Vevay in Switzerland County, which debuted last August, has joined two nearby casinos to help spur a robust economy in southeast Indiana. Still drawing crowds are the Argosy Casino and Hotel in Lawrenceburg in Dearborn County and the Grand Victoria Casino and Resort by Hyatt in Rising Sun in Ohio County.

The economy is "good and improving," reports Charles Overbey, executive vice president of the Vevay-Switzerland County Foundation, which saw 1,700 people head to work at the new Belterra Casino last fall.

Even though Jefferson County doesn't have riverboat gaming, its spot on the Ohio River still brings visitors, says Randy Johann, executive director of the Madison-Jefferson County Industrial Development Corp. New in its offerings this, past year is the Rivercrest Marina, a full-service, 125-slip marina with upscale condominiums. "Phase 2 of the development will include additional condominiums, retail space and a restaurant," he reports.

After 30 years without a movie screen, Decatur County welcomed the six-screen Wolf Theatres last year, reports Danielle Ray, executive director of the Greensburg Area Chamber of Commerce. "We've also had a lot of small businesses open--about 35, most of them retail and restaurants. Our community had grown so much, we needed to catch up with these quality-of-life businesses."

While tourism leads the area in jobs and revenues, three new industrial ventures in Dearborn County also are boosting the economy, says David Pode, director of economic development for the Dearborn County Chamber of Commerce's Department of Economic Development.

PSEG Global Inc. is building a $200 million gas-fired electrical generating plant in Lawrenceburg. When it opens in 2002, the plant will be able to generate more than 500 megawatts of power. It will take about 400 construction workers to complete the project, which will employ about 35 when operations begin.

A private-label bottling company, Pri-Pak, spent about $6 million to retrofit the long-vacant, 300,000-square-foot Schenley Distillers plant in Greendale. The plant, which has seven acres under roof, bottles products for about 25 companies and employs 150.

To prepare more space for industrial development, a new 150-acre Aurora Industrial/Commercial Park is now under development in Dearborn County.

In Jefferson County, the new Century Tube Corp. in Madison--operating a 200,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art tube mill--is now at full...