Shelbyville is seeing a $150-million doubling of production capacity from Knauf Insulation, which is adding 400,000 sq. ft. (37,160 sq. m.) to the plant that employs some 800 of its 1,250 U.S. employees. Key to the decision were negotiations with Glass, Molders, Pottery, Plastics and Allied Workers International, which in the end helped keep 350 of those jobs at the company's Indiana home base. The 27-year-old firm makes thermal and acoustical insulations for residential, commercial, industrial, OEM and metal building applications.
      Also choosing to stay put is specialty retailer Hat World, which many thought would relocate to Tennessee following its acquisition by Nashville-based Genesco Inc. But instead it will lease a 195,080-sq.-ft. (18,123-sq.-m.) facility at Duke Realty's Park 100 Business Park for a new headquarters and logistics facility. The company employs 200, and plans to add another 100 by 2009.
      Riding that retention success, two weeks later, in October 2004, Duke purchased 300 acres (121 hectares) of land northwest of the city along I-65, part of the 1,400 acres (567 hectares) the company has options on for a $750-million office, industrial, retail, medical and residential development called Anson.
      Left holding the bag a while back by United Airlines and its abandoned maintenance center, Indianapolis is giving no incentives whatsoever as some of the enormous facility's space is occupied by companies made up in part by former United employees. First, AAR Aircraft Services signed on to conduct maintenance operations there, and now Indianapolis Diversified Machining, Inc., will lease another 216,000 sq. ft. (20,066 sq. m.) and hire 50 mechanics and other personnel in a partnership arrangement with AAR.
      The regional Indy economy still thrives on its logistics location and prowess:

• Fitzgerald Financial LLC, a holding company for food product handler Sataria Distribution & Packaging Inc., is building a $15-million, 600,000-sq.-ft. (55,740-sq.-m.) headquarters and distribution facility, adding 19 jobs to its payroll of 81. The city's Metropolitan Development Commission approved an eight-year tax abatement that will net the company nearly $1 million in savings on the rail-served infill site.
• In Greenwood, just to the city's south, industrial logistics space developer AMB Corp. recently purchased 34 acres (13.8 hectares) in the Precedent South Business Center. Plans call for a 450,000-sq.-ft. (41,805-sq.-m.) facility for single- or multiple-tenant use on a 23-acre (9.3-hectare) parcel, and build-to-suit or land sales on an 11-acre (4.5-hectare) parcel.
        At the same time, United Natural Foods is getting a 10-year-tax break from the Greenwood City Council in support of moving 250 jobs into an unfinished warehouse in that same park. The firm plans $8.3 million in improvements, including a 30,000-sq.-ft. (2,787-sq.-m.) addition.
• Prologis' purchase of Keystone Property Trust doubled its Indianapolis space to more than 9 million sq. ft. (836,100 sq. m.). Prologis also has seen the lease of an 813,000-sq.-ft. (75,528-sq.-m.) facility in the Airtech Park complex it owns with Browning Investments by Logisco, which will use it to distribute Gatorade for PepsiCo's Quaker Sales & Distribution division.
• Right on I-70, east of the city, the Mt. Comfort Commercial Park has seen the arrival of food distributor S. Abraham & Sons, Inc., creating 125 jobs and planning on another 50, as well as a relocation by Awning Innovations from its Indianapolis property.