Dekalb County Indiana Sports Schedules

Region becoming distribution hub

The flat Midwestern state lies within one day’s drive of 75 percent of the U.S. population, which reduces the time it takes manufacturers and food producers to get their products into consumers’ shopping carts.

The state’s relatively rural nature allows companies to find reasonably priced real estate where they can build warehouse and distribution operations sprawling over 1 million square feet or more.

Sales pitches built around those facts – and Indiana’s relatively low taxes – are bearing some sweet fruit.

General Mills on Tuesday announced it will invest $36 million to build a distribution center at 12300 Bluffton Road and create 65 new jobs by the end of next year.

The Minneapolis-based food maker’s plan to build a new logistics center in one of two communities was first reported by The Journal Gazette in April. The publicly traded company didn’t disclose the other possible location.

With the 1.5 million-square-foot operation, plans for more than 2.5 million square feet of new distribution space in the region have been announced in the past 12 months.

Among recent projects:

•Family Dollar Stores Inc. in January announced plans to build a $70 million distribution center, creating 350 jobs next year in Ashley. The North Carolina-based discount retailer broke ground in May on the 815,000-square-foot center in DeKalb County.

•Western Power Sports Inc. in March announced a $3.8 million investment in a 100,000-square-foot distribution center that is creating up to 40 jobs in Ashley this year. The Boise, Idaho-based wholesale distributor handles parts for motorcycles, snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles, bicycles and watercraft.

•Trelleborg Sealing Solutions invested more than $1.8 million late last year to transform a building at 5503 Distribution Drive into the Swedish company’s logistics center for the Americas. The 70,000-square-foot warehouse distribution center and 12,000-square-foot office created 46 new jobs. Trelleborg makes seals for the industrial, aerospace and automotive markets.

Michael Hicks, director of Ball State University’s Bureau of Business Research, said employers can incite fierce competition between states vying for warehouse and shipping projects.

“Distribution centers are viewed very favorably by economic development officials because they’re very footloose,” he said. “They can go anywhere.

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