Anson industrial development to begin

The groundwork and infrastructure has already started in Anson, and construction of the development’s first industrial building is set to start next month.

Construction is scheduled to begin in mid-June on a 630,000-square-foot building on about 32 acres featuring 36-foot high ceilings and 80 dock doors. The building should be completed near the end of the year, said Tom Dickey, senior attorney for Duke Realty Corp.

“It is being built on a speculative basis,” he said. “We don’t have any tenants yet, but we hope to some, or at least good leads, by December.”

He said the building is being built for bulk warehouse use, and is the start of the development of the Anson’s industrial portion.

The $300 million industrial portion of Anson is 600 acres, which is approximately the northern one-third of the 1,700 acre development, he said.

Anson’s industrial development was renamed AllPoints at Anson after a joint venture was announced Thursday, May 4, between Duke and competitor Browning Investments Inc.

Dickey said the venture provides a marketing advantage to the two companies.

Browning is developing a 900-acre, $446 million industrial park in Plainfield, and the partnership allows the two companies to work together to attract businesses to the developments, Dickey said.

“It (the partnership) gives us more opportunities,” he said. “Businesses will see one entity with the two best sites in central Indiana.”

Boone County Commissioner Huck Lewis said the partnership doesn’t change the industrial component of the Anson development, but it will allow the two companies to pool their resources and help each other out.

“It sounds like marketing, and working together instead of fighting,” he said.

Dickey said Duke will remain in charge of the development plan for Anson.

“Importantly for Boone County, Duke remains the master developer,” he said. “With respect to the TIF bonds, Duke Realty remains the guarantor on those.”