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

• Author: Mayer, Kathy
• Position: REGIONAL REPORT: SOUTHWEST

Crane stays. It's likely few were more joyful over the Base Realignment and Closure list released in May by the U.S. Department of Defense than residents of Martin, Daviess and Greene counties. Rather than close the Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center which Loogootee Mayor Don Bowling says would have been devastating to the area--the base is slated to remain open. Some 683 jobs may be lost, but that's better than losing all 4,000 current jobs.

"Everyone has done a good job in the fight. People at Crane have reinvented themselves," Bowling says, referring to new technology skills they've learned.

"If it's positive news for the base, it affects us all," says Ron Arnold, executive director of the Daviess County Growth Council.

The three counties had already taken a proactive approach to combating potential job losses, beginning discussions in 2003 and last year reaching an agreement to develop The West Gate @ Crane Technology Park. Ultimately, it may cover 1,000 acres.

Construction on the park's first building is to begin this summer on a six-acre site, part of Daviess County's interest, Arnold says. EG&G Technical Services, which provides science, engineering and administrative personnel to Crane and is now housed in temporary facilities outside the base, will occupy 25,000 square feet. Rose-Hulman and Purdue University will use the remaining space for classrooms.

If plans come to fruition, it will be the first of many, Arnold predicts. "Our county officials got aggressive toward economic development by imposing an EDIT tax that will give Daviess County about $1 million a year to work on economic-development issues," he says. "We're helping Crane and getting ready for 1-69. We're fishing. We've gotten a lot of bites. It's time to reel one in."

Looking good. New construction is changing the Evansville skyline. Among the latest: Old National Bank's new headquarters, an eight-story, $52 million project; and Vectren's new headquarters, a $26 million project housing 206 employees. Both are along the riverfront. Also new: a $33 million, 100,000-square-foot Central Library; a $38 million expansion and renovation at Ivy Tech Community College and the just-completed 54,000-square-foot FedEx Ground distribution facility in the Vanderburgh Industrial Park, employing 80.

Also in Evansville, Azteca Milling LLP is spending $24 million on new production equipment. It's the largest North American...