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

• Author: Mayer, Kathy
• Position: Building Indiana

PSEG GLOBAL INC.

Lawrenceburg $1 billion

New Jersey-based PSEG Global Inc. brought its $1 billion Lawrenceburg electrical generating plant online this year. During construction, some 1,200 workers were involved in the project. The plant is operated by a crew of 35.

DAIMLER CHRYSLER

Kokomo $500 million

Kokomo unwrapped an early Christmas gift December 19 when state and company leaders cut the ribbon on DaimlerChrysler's latest expansion, a 600,000square-foot facility known as Indiana Transmission Plant II. At $378 million, the new facility leads the company's roughly $500 million in investments at its four Kokomo facilities.

Workers at the new facility started the new year making Chrysler five-speed automatic transmissions. Daimler Chrysler employs about 8,000 in Kokomo.

INTERNATIONAL STEEL GROUP INC.

Burns Harbor $272 million

International Steel Group Inc. followed up its April 2003 news that it was spending $1.5 billion to acquire Bethlehem Steel by announcing a $272 million investment in upgrading the Burns Harbor facility.

The new machinery and equipment will be installed over the next four years. The facility employs about 3,400 and has the capacity to produce more than four million tons of steel annually.

International Steel Group was organized in 2002 by W.L. Ross and Co. to acquire steel making assets and rebuild those facilities. It's the nation's second largest integrated steel producer, behind U.S. Steel.

MIDWEST IN DEPENDENT TRANSMISSION SYSTEM OPERATOR INC>

Carmel $150 million

Growth is on the horizon at the nation's first regional transmission organization, Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator Inc. (Midwest ISO), founded in 2001 in Carmel. The non-profit electric reliability monitoring firm announced in March that it will invest $150 million on a facility expansion that will lead to 300 new jobs over the next five years, more than doubling today's workforce of 266.

Midwest ISO's monitoring extends to a 15-state region, from Pennsylvania to Nebraska and from Tennessee to Canada's Manitoba province. It is responsible for coordinating operation of the wholesale electric transmission system and ensuring fair access to the grid.

ROCHE DIAGNOSITICS CORP.

Indianapolis $135 million

Roche Diagnostics Corp. is one year into a 10 year plan to invest more than $135 million at its North American headquarters campus in Indianapolis. The growth brings another 600 jobs, boosting Indianapolis employment to 2,750 in the next decade.

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