Top prizes: major economic-development headlines of the past year.

• Author: Kronemyer, Bob

Subaru of Indiana Automotive

The 2006 Subaru B9 Tribeca, an upscale "crossover utility vehicle," began rolling off the assembly line in April at the Subaru of Indiana Automotive plant in Lafayette. The seven-occupant XUV is the latest innovation from Subaru and is one of four different body styles that can be built simultaneously at the plant. Between 2002 and 2005, the auto manufacturer spent more than $300 million for capital improvements, including $83 million for the flexible manufacturing system. Subaru projects that it will produce about 125,000 vehicles this calendar year. Of that number, 27,000 will be the new B9 Tribeca.

General Motors Fort Wayne Assembly

General Motors is investing approximately $175 million to prepare its Fort Wayne truck assembly plant for future full-size pickup-truck production. The investment will primarily be used to upgrade the plant with new machinery, equipment and special tooling; upgrades at the plant began last December. The truck project is a major effort to strengthen GM's core manufacturing capabilities in the U.S. and Indiana. Approximately 247,000 pickup trucks were produced at Fort Wayne Assembly in 2004. The facility, which consists of more than 2.5 million square feet of enclosed space, employs about 2,900.

Knauf insulation

As Shelbyville's largest employer with a workforce of 850, Knauf Insulation is investing more than $150 million in manufacturing operations, including a new, adjacent plant slated to open by early 2008. The money will be used for equipment modernization, new manufacturing lines and warehousing facilities to meet increasing customer demand. The expansion represents a 50 percent increase in capacity for industrial and commercial insulation products (including duct and equipment insulations and uncured products), as well as some light-density building insulations. The expansion will encompass 400,000 square feet of warehousing and production facilities.

Argosy Casino

Argosy Casino hopes to hit the jackpot by investing as much as $150 million in doubling its casino and hotel at the Lawrenceburg destination in Dearborn County, where it has been operating since 1997. If things go according to plan, the Lawrenceburg riverboat will become Indiana's largest casino, exchanging its three-level riverboat for a larger, single-level boat, adding 1,200 slot machines and table games. The plan would also alleviate the parking crunch with a new, 1,500-space garage and a 500-space lot. Argosy...