Developing story: update on Indiana's major real-estate developers.

OPEN-AIR LIFESTYLE centers, master-planned mixed-use developments, major developments for logistics, acquisition and renovation of existing strip malls--these are just some of the recent projects of Indiana's real-estate developers.

Simon Property Group moved 1,000 employees into its new $55 million, 14-floor, 350,000-square-foot headquarters across from the Statehouse in Indianapolis this summer. The S&P 500 company is the country's largest retail REIT. It continues to grow throughout the U.S. and internationally, primarily with regional malls, premium outlet centers and community/lifestyle centers. Through its subsidiary partnership, it currently owns or has an interest in 284 properties in 38 states plus Puerto Rico (15 malls and centers in Indiana). It also owns interests in 52 European shopping centers, five premium outlet centers in Japan and one in Mexico. Simon's president and CEO is David Simon.

This summer, Simon closed on the purchase of seven stores from Federated Department Stores in Simon malls and announced renovation plans for those spaces; four were in Indiana. A major open-air project under way in Indiana is the development of Hamilton Town Center in Noblesville, an upscale mix of retail shops, restaurants, office space and landscaped acres, with partner Gershman Brown & Associates, Indianapolis. The partners recently closed on the land and the project, originally scheduled to open in fall 2007, is now planned for a 2008 completion.

Duke Realty Corp., headquartered in Indianapolis, is the largest publicly traded, vertically integrated office/industrial real estate company in the U.S. In April, Duke formed a joint venture with Browning Investments to develop All-Points at Anson in Boone County and All-Points Midwest in Plainfield. Combined, the $746 million project will encompass more than 1,500 acres, supporting the development of 38 industrial buildings totaling 20 million square feet, and a projected 10,200 new jobs.

"We began construction in May on Anson I, the first speculative industrial project that kicks off the overall development of Anson," says Denny Oklak, Duke chairman and CEO. "We are excited that our hard work with the local municipalities will begin to take shape with the first industrial development at Anson." Anson is Duke's planned 1,700-acre, mixed-use, residential, office, retail, medical and industrial development, off Interstate 65.

On the office-park side, Duke owns 3.2 million square feet in Indianapolis and Carmel and manages 850,000 square feet, with an additional 185,544 square feet under development. Construction began in August 2006 on One West, just west of Meridian on 96th Street. When completed, the Parkwood West office campus will consist of three buildings totaling 570,000 square feet, two fine-dining restaurants and garage parking for 1,200 vehicles.

Kite Realty Group, Indianapolis, is focused on development of high-quality neighborhood and community shopping centers in selected growth markets in the U.S. It has 21 operating properties in Indiana, more than half in the greater Indianapolis area. Five properties are in various stages of development in Indiana: Geist Pavilion, Indianapolis; Beacon Hill Shopping Center, Crown Point; Zionsville Place; Stoney Creek Commons II, Noblesville; and Bridgewater Marketplace I, Westfield.

In late September Kite Realty Group announced an agreement with Prudential Real Estate Investors to pursue joint-venture opportunities for the development and selected acquisition of up to $1.25 billion in community shopping centers in the United States. Kite will also manage them. John A. Kite is president and CEO of the publicly held company

Windrose Medical Properties Trust, Indianapolis, a specialty medical properties REIT, was formed and went public in 2002, beginning a whirlwind acquisition blitz. It now owns 93 properties in 14 states, none in Indiana.

Its success and growth made it a good candidate for acquisition, and in September it announced that it would be acquired by Health Care REIT, Toledo, Ohio, and operate as a division. Windrose chairman and CEO Fred Klipsch and CFO Fred Farrar will become officers of both Health Care REIT and Windrose Medical Properties Division post-closing. Toledo will remain the corporate headquarters, with the Indianapolis and Nashville offices of Windrose maintained. The transaction should be completed by year-end.

Holladay Properties, South Bend, has ownership and/or management responsibility for properties in 15 states, including many medical-related holdings. In Indiana, however, its large mixed-use Ameriplex developments have taken center stage. The 1,500-acre Ameriplex Indianapolis near the airport is the largest business park in the state. Seventy West is a planned retail and lifestyle center on 375 acres within Ameriplex, to be completed in 2008. It will include a 600,000-square-foot open-air lifestyle center with retail and restaurants, a movie theater complex, hotels, a water park and Indiana's largest year-round farmer's market.

Other similar projects are Ameriplex at the Crossroads in Merrillville, a joint venture with the Purdue Research Foundation; Ameriplex at the Port in Portage; Ameriplex South Bend; and the newest, Ameriplex at Portage Prairie, also in South Bend, a $450 million 383-acre mixed-use project. Huron, its first spec light industrial building for multiple tenants, should be complete in March.

Holladay ran into some opposition to its plan for a $50 million 300,000-square-foot open-air lifestyle center within Ameriplex at the Port in Portage when it presented it to the plan commission in September. Some favored Portage's traditional approach of locating retail on U.S. 6, rather than splitting into two distinct retail areas. Holladay officials, however, say the kind of regional retailers it seeks to attract want to be in the kind of lifestyle center it offers. Holladay will return to the planning commission this month to work for necessary approvals.

Tippmann Group, Fort Wayne, is made up of three separate companies owned by John Tippmann Sr., with Chuck Tippmann president. Tippmann Construction designs and builds refrigerated warehouse and distribution facilities for the food industry, and Interstate Warehousing owns and operates 11 of its own refrigerated warehouses for food industry customers, three in Indiana. The newest is a 157,000-square-foot facility open last year in Franklin. It can provide space year-round to food companies, or seasonal--such as storing turkeys for Thanksgiving.

The company has been in the refrigerated food business for more than 35 years, the owner even longer. It has 60 million cubic feet of storage space and is the sixth-largest member of its trade association, the International Association of Refrigerated Warehouses. Its third company, Tippmann Properties, owns Fort Wayne's most recognizable building, the Lincoln Bank Tower.

Lauth Property Group, Indianapolis, is engaged in all phases of commercial real estate throughout the United States, with current projects totaling more than 10 million square feet. In 2006, Lauth was named one of the top 14 real-estate developers in the U.S. by Commercial Property News, with nearly 70 projects developed over the past three years.

Lauth's health-care segment has more than 30 projects in the pipeline. It recently completed construction on Meridian Corporate Plaza II, a four-story, multi-tenant, 136,000-square-foot office building west of its headquarters near Meridian and Interstate 465, and broke ground in September on Meridian Corporate Plaza III.

In a joint venture with Cook Group of Bloomington, Lauth is developing the French Lick Springs Resort and Casino, as well as the West Baden Springs Resort. The first phase will open this month. Robert L. Lauth is chairman and Gregory C. Gurnik is CEO of Lauth Property Group.

The Broadbent Co., Indianapolis, owns nearly 4 million square feet of real estate, mainly in retail strip centers in Indiana. The bulk of the properties are in Indianapolis and surrounding counties near major malls. Other properties are in Fort Wayne; Evansville; Grand Rapids, Michigan; and Louisville. Four self-storage facilities in Florida and additional land in Indianapolis and Tennessee for development complete its portfolio. George P. Broadbent is president.

Browning Investments, Indianapolis, headed by CEO Michael Browning, is focused on serving companies with logistical needs in modern bulk distribution buildings. Plainfield developments Airtech Park, a joint venture with ProLogis, and AllPoints Midwest, a joint venture with Duke Realty, are two of its largest.

Airtech Park is a 500-acre development located just west of the Indianapolis International Airport. To date, there is over 3.5 million square feet of modern bulk distribution space occupied by such tenants as J.C. Penney, Belkin, Brightpoint, Electrolux and Quaker Oats. The recently announced AllPoints Midwest, 922 acres, is also minutes from Indianapolis International Airport on Interstate 70 and with direct access to adjacent CSX intermodal rail facility. The first building is scheduled to be completed by the third quarter of 2007.

WS Property Group in Bloomington, formerly Wininger/Stolberg Commercial, continues its development of 80-acres for Renwick, a master-planned, architecturally appealing community with a variety of housing options and a village atmosphere. Two-thirds of the infrastructure is complete, says CEO Eric Stolberg. The centerpiece of the walkable community will be the Renwick Village Center with two-story buildings housing retail below living space, surrounded by brownstones and mansion-style homes. Building on the multi-family spaces will begin in 2007, the commercial areas in 2008 and 2009, he says. "We'll sell pads to specific users who build conforming to our architectural guidelines."

Other commercial projects of the company are spreading to Indianapolis. "We build to suit and lease back," says Stolberg. "It's less speculative and more client-driven." One of those clients is Goodwill Industries of Central Indiana. It has developed two properties for Goodwill in Bloomington and two in Indianapolis, with at least four more in the works. In addition, with two partners from Denver, Stolberg formed Sagamore Dining Partners, to build Noodles & Co. franchise restaurants in the state, the most recent in Broad Ripple in Indianapolis.

Regency Commercial Associates, Evansville, continues to play to its strength, developing, managing and leasing retail properties in county seats, mainly in Indiana, but with a presence in Illinois, Mississippi and Alabama too. In the last year it purchased two retail strip malls in southern Indiana, South-wind Plaza in Mount Vernon, on which it completed renovation in August, and Northfield in Lebanon.

Out of its traditional box, but clearly still in its comfort zone, is the ongoing development of the 143-acre Cross Pointe Commerce Center in Evansville, for mixed use. Shoe Carnival is building its two-story, 60,000-square-foot national headquarters there, opening in the spring.

"We've grown to 44 investors," says president and CEO Jim McKinney. "Our strategy has been to have 15 percent compounded growth annually, and we plan on continuing that."