2024 Year in Review: State doubles down on LEAP District investment

The Indiana Economic Development Corp. inched closer to its vision for its LEAP Research and Innovation District in Lebanon this year with more than $100 million in additional state funding, steps to secure water for the site and additional private investment.

The 9,000-acre Boone County tech park advertises “shovel-ready” plots to attract companies to develop manufacturing, research and development, and corporate campuses. So far, LEAP, which stands for Limitless Exploration/Advanced Pace, has one tenant in Eli Lilly and Co., which made two additional investments this year totaling $9.8 billion in its Lebanon operation.

Having enough water continues to be the IEDC’s biggest headache. Lebanon Mayor Matt Gentry said in June that the city needs to find an additional water source to support new LEAP developments.

Citizens Energy and Lebanon Utilities plan to expand Citizens’ existing infrastructure to Lebanon and provide 25 million gallons of water a day to the LEAP district and surrounding developments. The project emerged publicly in August when the utility and the state began work to secure financing for the project.

The Citizens project is separate from a possible Wabash pipeline project, which would send as much as 100 million gallons of water a day to the development from Wabash River aquifers near Lafayette via a 35-mile pipeline. That project has been put on hold until the Indiana Finance Authority finishes a 28-county Wabash headwaters study.

The LEAP District continues to pull significant support from state government and economic development leaders, evidenced by multiple additional funding approvals from the State Budget Committee.

Gov.-elect Mike Braun has expressed some concern about the LEAP campus, particularly in what he has described as a lack of transparency about its development. But he has not been clear about his plans for the project.•

Check out more year-in-review stories from 2024.