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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowPurdue Research Foundation has purchased a half-interest in 78 acres in AmeriPlex industrial park on the far west side to start a technology park that the university anticipates filling with as many as 75 businesses and 1,500 jobs.
The announcement is expected during a 1 p.m. news conference at the site. AmeriPlex is south of Interstate 70 and across from the new midfield terminal at Indianapolis International Airport.
Called Purdue Accelerator Park, the project is intended to help companies commercialize research conducted at the university. It is the fourth such park the university has started, with others in West Lafayette, Crown Point in northwest Indiana and New Albany near Louisville.
AmeriPlex owner Holladay Properties, a South Bend developer of industrial parks, owns the other half of the site. Purdue paid $2.5 million for its share of the ownership, said Foundation Senior Vice President Joe Hornett.
Purdue Accelerator Park will launch with one industrial flex building with 100,000 to 150,000 square feet. When it is finished next year, the accelerator building will cater to start-up companies and cost $12 million to $14 million.
The 78 acres are within a 400-acre area that could accommodate four more accelerator buildings of similar size.
An office building with 50,000 to 70,000 square feet will be built for graduates of the accelerator to move into.
Included in the plan are three sites for restaurants or retail shops, and a 300-bed, six-story hotel. The hotel would have a 30,000-square-foot conference center.
The park is near a tract that Holladay has discussed turning into a massive retail mecca. However, the proposed 70 West project has not received tax breaks that Holladay says are necessary to move the project forward.
The announcement is one of the last for Purdue President Martin Jischke before he retires at the end of the month. He is being succeeded by France A. Cordova, who most recently was chancellor of the University of California, Riverside.
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