Southern Indiana update: the region's top business stories.

• Author: Mayer, Kathy
• Position: Regional Report Southern

A sure bet? With a $140 million casino employing up to 1,500 set for groundbreaking late this year and an early 2006 opening, and another 1,000 new jobs likely at the French Lick Springs Resort & Spa and West Baden Springs Hotel, Orange County is betting on economic success.

"It's been a long uphill battle," says Alan Barnett, executive secretary of the French Lick/West Baden Chamber of Commerce. "We're not quite across the finish line yet, but we can see it. We're working to make this area a true tourism destination so people will want to spend more than one night."

With Donald Trump's organization building the casino, Bloomington's Cook Group planning more West Baden Springs Hotel restoration, the French Lick Winery expanding its operations at a new site, and restaurants, retailers, theaters and hotels buying and optioning land, "The next two to three years should be exciting," Barnett says. "No one has put an educated guess on the economic impact. I think the word is 'substantial.'"

While Indiana's other casinos have been nicknamed "the boats," Orange County's will be on dry land, but must resemble a turn-of-the-20th century riverboat. "It does not have to float or move."

The new jobs will help offset the loss of some 1,200 manufacturing jobs in the last several years. "We have one of the lowest per-capita incomes for the state of Indiana, so we're hoping to see those things change."

Two openings. One Jeffersonville plant opened in the last year and another is now going up, reports Jack Ragland, president of the Southern Indiana Economic Development Council.

Production began in June at Kasle Metal Processing LLC'S new $16 million Clark Maritime Centre facility, and employment at the auto-parts manufacturer now totals 80.

Key Electronics, a spin-off of longtime New Albany employer Key Communications Service Inc., has a new local owner and is building a $4 million, 100,000-square-foot facility in Jeffersonville. The company's employment will increase from 70 to 90 with the move. Key Electronics does low- to medium-volume contract electronic manufacturing and assembly. Its products include medical devices, instrumentation and industrial controls.

One up, one down. Some 30 workers are on the job at Corydon's Lucas Oil Products Inc., which opened a 100,000-square-foot facility in the Harrison County Industrial Park this year. The lubricant and fuel additive producer is already planning to expand by about 50,000 square feet, reports Darrell...