Amazon expansion wins drainage board approval

Jul 20, 2010 — The Lebanon Reporter

Staff report

Jul. 20, 2010 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- LEBANON -- An expansion of the building housing Amazon.com's distribution center in AllPoints at Anson would allow developers Duke Realty (NYSE:DRE) and Browning Investments to extend water, sewer and other infrastructure to four other proposed building sites.

The Boone County Drainage Board Monday unanimously approved the site's drainage plans, subject to review by the consulting firm Christopher Burke Engineering.

The expansion would be on the east side of Amazon.com's 630,000-square-foot distribution center, bringing it close to County Road 500 East.

Blaine Paul, Duke Realty's development services manager, said the 408,000-square-foot expansion is for a "prospective tenant."

"It's a project we're very excited about," Paul said.

Duke has historically declined to identify potential tenants before they have committed to a lease.

In June, however, Dax Norton, executive director of the Boone County Economic Development Commission, told the Boone County Commissioners that Amazon wanted to expand its Anson center. The commissioners approved a resolution approving the expansion.

On July 13, the Whitestown Town Council approved a total of $25 million in tax abatement for the Amazon expansion. The abatement includes $10 million in new real property and $15 million for equipment.

In an abatement, a company pays a rising percentage of real and personal property taxes, based on a sliding scale that covers 10 years.

Paul said Monday that the expansion would allow Duke and partner Browning Investments to build infrastructure for two planned buildings, each a potential 1.2 million square feet, east of CR 500 E.

AllPoints is a 600-acre industrial area on the north side of Anson, Duke's 1,700-acre mixed-used development northeast of Interstate 65 between Indiana 334 and CR 400 S.

-- Andrea Hirsch contributed to this story.

Newstex ID: KRTB-0436-47109011